Politics and Polonecks
by LucretiaDecoy
Summary: A strange virus spreads over Demon World, and Hiei contracts it, leading to him behaving vey strangely, and the situation in Spirit World isn't much better. Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei set out to set things right, but with Hiei behaving so strangely and Demon World turning to desperate measures to control the outbreak of the virus, all havoc soon breaks loose.
1. The News

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the characters herein, they are all the property of Yoshihiro Togashi.

 **A/N:** As said in the summary, this is based on a very well-known novel, but I'm not going to say which one. I've decided to twist this slightly and keep an element of mystery about it.

If you're offended by yaoi and yuri, this isn't for you, because the "romance" element of this fic will touch on both of those areas and it will, like the rest of the fic, be a little bizarre. I'm writing this because I want to try to write about a pairing I often see in fanart, but I've never really understood (I've also never read any of the many fanfics about these two, so hope not be influenced by the typical methods of pairing them). I feel I might be taking some liberties with one half of the pairing in order to make it work, so this may be slightly out of character in places, but hopefully not too much so. I'm also going to completely destroy a certain piece of canon, but I think I can pull it off.

That being said, I hope this is enjoyable – though expect this to be more "League of Gentlemen" style of entertainment – ie most chapters will probably leave you confused and slightly disturbed, and will cement your belief that I need therapy.

Finally, this is just totally out of left field, an idea that just suddenly came to me from nowhere, so apologies to those hoping I would be working on my other fics next…

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The News**

"That's the last time I ever let you talk me into that," Koenma growled, rubbing a hand at his hip.

"You said to get you here as quickly as I could!" Botan protested.

"A warning might have been nice before you banished your oar," Koenma flatly replied.

"But I did get us here very quickly, Sir."

Koenma narrowed his eyes at her and she flashed him a brilliant grin. She almost looked maniacal, because not only was her grin an awkward and forced one, but it was set against the panic and concern tugging at her brow and hazing her eyes.

"Let's just go inside," he said, smoothing out his clothing.

He had transformed into his adult form before leaving spirit world, and he wondered if that had been his mistake. It was the first time he had ever let Botan take him for a ride on her oar in that form, and he supposed she was not really accustomed to supporting a fully-grown passenger. In a way, he was almost glad of the distraction falling from her oar had provided them both with, because they were both anxious and apprehensive, and Koenma knew that entering the temple ahead of them and making the announcement he had to was only going to make matters worse. Botan was already twisting the ends of her ponytail around her fingers and chewing at her lip almost frantically, and he had to turn away from her to spare himself the added aggravation of having to see her so distraught.

Inside the temple, in the sparse living room area, Koenma found the others gathered, as he had known they would be, waiting for his arrival. He slowly looked around the faces greeting him as he entered the room, silently wondering if Botan was at fault for inviting too many people or if it was simply a matter of habit that they had all turned up: he had hoped to find just Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and hopefully Hiei awaiting him, but instead he was facing Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Keiko, Yukina and even Shizuru.

"Well, I'm glad you could all make it," he said tightly.

"Get to the point," Yusuke replied. "What's really going on? And don't try to hide anything this time."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Yusuke," Koenma said tersely.

He turned to Botan, ready to dismiss her. He did intend to reveal everything he knew to Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama, but he had not intended on telling anyone else: but, he supposed, if the other girls were all going to be present, it was going to be that much harder to get rid of Botan.

"Maybe you and your friends could go for a walk?" he tried.

Botan's eyes slowly moved over the faces of the others sitting before them, but she made no attempt to move.

"My brother's got exams coming up, if he has to miss them, I want to know why," Shizuru said sternly.

"That's your reason for being here?" Kuwabara asked her.

"Somebody needs to keep you in line," she answered him.

"Are you in trouble?" Keiko asked, grabbing at Yusuke's arm and looking up at him fearfully. "Has something terrible happened? Are you going to leave again?"

Koenma suppressed a sigh and turned to Botan again.

"Go and play with Puu," he said firmly.

"O-okay…" she said, eying him suspiciously.

"And take the girls with you," he added.

She started to pout defiantly, but a stern look stopped her, and she moved over to Keiko, helping her to her feet.

"Are they in trouble?" Keiko asked her. "Are we in trouble? What's happening?"

Botan palmed her off with a few soothing words of no real substance, ushering her towards the door. Shizuru reluctantly followed after them, giving Koenma an almost sympathetic look as she passed him. He wondered if she already knew what he was about to announce, but dismissed the thought as he noticed Yukina still serving tea to Kurama.

"You too, Yukina," he said.

She glanced at him briefly, but otherwise did not respond, continuing to stir the bowl of tea she had placed at Kurama's side.

"Yukina?" he said again.

"I have to finish preparing the tea," she softly replied, keeping her head down as she spoke.

"That can wait," Koenma replied. "This is urgent."

"It will get cold if I leave it now."

Koenma was momentarily stunned into silence: it was unlike Yukina to be so stubborn, and, although she was in no way acting or sounding aggressive, her words were becoming increasingly punctuated, as though she was becoming slightly irritated by his demands.

"It's fine," Kurama said to her.

He put a hand on hers to halt her stirring, and her head jerked up, her eyes meeting his curiously.

"Thank you," he continued. "But you should join Botan and the others outside. I'm sure Puu has more need of your care than I do."

She paused, staring at him until he smiled and withdrew his hand from hers, at which point she slowly stood up and turned towards the door.

"Thank you, Yukina," Koenma said to her as she passed him.

He caught her eye just before she disappeared from his line of sight, and briefly saw her giving him a look that could almost rival one of Hiei's best scowls. He quickly forgot about it again however when he turned back to the remaining three pairs of eyes watching him expectantly.

"What did you lose this time?" Yusuke asked him.

"Excuse me?" Koenma echoed.

"He's at that age where he puts everything in his mouth," Yusuke told the others. "He called me up last week because he accidentally swallowed an important jewel from the spirit world vault. He likes shiny things."

Kuwabara snorted in amusement and even Kurama cocked a smirk at Yusuke's remark.

"I wish it were that simple, Yusuke," Koenma replied.

Ordinarily he would have been angered at Yusuke reminding him of his recent embarrassment, but the news he was about to deliver was a sobering thought, and holding onto it helped him keep his emotions in check.

"Is it a problem in human world or demon world?" Kurama asked.

"Neither," Koenma replied. "The problem is in spirit world. We thought we had it under control, but it's getting worse, and we need help."

"Are you sure you didn't lose something again?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes," Koenma replied, giving him an exasperated look. "The SDF have been unable to stop what's happening, so please understand that this is serious."

"Whoa," Kuwabara muttered.

"A small group of low class demons found their way into spirit world just over three weeks ago," Koenma began. "We didn't think it was a problem because they were weak and few in number."

"Typical spirit world," Yusuke grumbled. "Ignore a problem until it turns into a disaster."

"It should have been a simple routine operation for the SDF to dispose of them," Koenma said sternly, glaring at Yusuke.

"But not so," Kurama said. "Were they concealing their true strength, and you underestimated them?"

"No, they are relatively weak," Koenma replied. "It's not their strength that's the problem, it's their resourcefulness. They've somehow managed to create a direct link between spirit world and demon world, and they've built a fort around it. They're importing weapons from demon world to keep anyone who approaches at bay, and all the while they're expanding the size of the fort."

"So a bunch of weak demons have built a playhouse in spirit world?" Yusuke asked. "I still don't see why it's such a big deal."

"We can't get close enough to stop what they're doing, and in less than three weeks, they've walled off the entire western sector of spirit world. Everyday they build deeper into the heart of spirit world, and, at the rate they're moving, we estimate that they'll have control of the orchard within a week."

"So no fresh apples for you then?" Yusuke asked.

"This isn't funny, Yusuke," Kurama said solemnly.

"Thank you Kurama," Koenma said.

"The orchard is the place where the fruit-bearing trees of spirit world grow," Kurama explained. "There are many different species there, including the Fruit of Previous Life – and you already know how powerful that particular fruit is."

"Okay, so how do we stop them taking over the fruit garden?" Yusuke asked.

"The SDF are doing what they can to slow their expansion within spirit world," Koenma replied. "But they can only do so much against the weapons those demons have. We need to cut off their weapons and ammunition supply, because, without ammunition for their long-range weapons, the SDF could move in close and destroy the walls and the demons behind them."

"So we have to go to demon world and shut it down from the other side?" Kuwabara asked.

"Exactly," Koenma replied.

"How will we find it?" Kuwabara asked.

"The first sensible approach is to find a major weapons dealer in demon world who has been selling a lot of long-range weapons and ammunition lately," Kurama replied. "Hiei would probably know who the main weapons merchants are, we should seek him out immediately."

"Don't you know where he is?" Koenma asked.

"Actually, I haven't seen him for several days," Kurama replied.

"Is that unusual?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes it is, actually," Kurama said.

"Well, not really," Yusuke said.

The others turned to him and he shrugged indifferently.

"I went to Mukuro's place to look for him before we came here," he said. "I figured something was up when Botan came here all sweaty and screaming earlier, so I thought it would be a good idea to find Hiei. At first Mukuro told me she didn't know where he was, but then eventually she admitted to me that he's in hiding."

"Why? What did he do?" Kuwabara asked.

"There's some sort of virus going around demon world right now, and Hiei caught it," Yusuke replied. "He's really sick, but he doesn't want anyone to see him like that, so he's off sulking somewhere until he gets better."

"I had heard of that," Kurama said. "Rather ironically, I believe the virus first appeared about three weeks ago, and it's believed to have come from spirit world. It's probably a result of the link those demons created between the two realms. An unstable, poorly created portal can cause havoc."

"Great, so the one time we actually need him, shorty gets the flu!" Kuwabara moaned.

"Hey, I know Hiei, he'll show up," Yusuke said confidently. "He always does. Right when we need him, he's always right there. Of course, he acts all stuck-up and moody about it, like he hates helping out, but he likes it really."

"This is the first I've heard about this virus," Koenma said. "Kurama, can you check that out for me?"

"Hey, I already told you Hiei's got it!" Yusuke pointed out.

"I need to know more, like how far it has spread, if it really is because of the breach those demons created, and how serious it is," Koenma said.

"You think it could be terminal?" Kurama asked.

"I don't know, but maybe, so we need to find out as much as we can," Koenma replied. "Yusuke, I think you should try to find the weapons dealer, and Kuwabara, I need you to check the known portals between human world and demon world, make sure there's no reports of humans falling ill around those areas. It's unlikely the virus would pass to a human, but better safe than sorry."

Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara stood up, nodding their agreement.

"Let's set a time limit and agree a meeting place to discuss our findings," Kurama suggested. "Because I believe time will be critical, and it must be the driving factor in what we do next."

Meanwhile, outside of the temple, Botan was starting to get a sore neck.

"Can you hear anything?" Keiko whispered to her.

"No, it's just muffled mumbling!" Botan replied.

She had her ear pressed to the base of a drinking glass, the rim of which she had pressed against the exterior door of the temple. She had known that it would probably prove to be a fruitless attempt to listen in to the conversation Koenma was having with the others – especially as they were in another room, through a second, internal, wall from where she was standing – but she was frantic with worry.

"Whatever it is, it can't be too catastrophic," Shizuru assured them. "I'm not getting a bad feeling from anything in living world, if it was something really bad in demon world Yusuke or Kurama would know more about it by now and if the problem is in spirit world, Botan I'm pretty sure you would have noticed something was wrong."

"But something is wrong in spirit world!" Botan protested, straightening up and easing out the crick in her neck. "King Enma has deployed the SDF! He only does that in extreme cases! He sent out the entire squad to one location in spirit world!"

"I knew it was too good to be true," Keiko sighed. "It's been six months since Yusuke got involved with anything dangerous, and I thought maybe all those days of fighting crazy monsters were behind him."

"Technically speaking sweetie, Yusuke is a crazy monster himself," Botan pointed out.

"Do you ever say that to his face?" Shizuru asked.

"Oh all the time, but he thinks it's funny," Botan replied.

Shizuru smiled in amusement but Botan was still fidgeting and glancing about nervously, barely aware of what she had said herself, let alone the fact that Shizuru was trying to joke with her.

"I hate that we get left out of everything all the time!" Keiko moaned, leaning back against a pillar behind her.

"Would you want to go to demon world and fight "crazy monsters"?" Shizuru asked her.

"I think we three girls could give some of those demons a run for their money you know," Botan said, clutching her oar as though it was a staff.

"I didn't say we couldn't fight them, I said we wouldn't want to," Shizuru said.

"I don't want to fight," Keiko said. "And I don't want Yusuke to fight either! I thought all those days of risking his life were over."

"Well since there's going to be a demon world tournament every three years, he'll be fighting and risking his life every – ow!"

Botan clapped a hand onto her arm where Shizuru had pinched her, thoughts of the mysterious problems she had left behind spirit world momentarily gone from her mind.

"What was that for?" she hissed.

Shizuru nodded at Keiko, who was clearly on the point of tears.

"Oh," Botan said, her ire fading. "Oh dear…"

"Not all demons are crazy monsters."

Botan, Keiko and Shizuru all turned to Yukina, who was standing a few steps away from them, her hands clasped together in front of her and a sad, concerned look on her face.

"Well, obviously not," Botan quickly corrected herself. "Because you're a demon Yukina, and you're just adorable!"

Yukina frowned slightly, but said nothing.

"Botan, you're our lady in the know, you need to find out what those boys are up to," Shizuru said, clapping a hand onto Botan's shoulder.

"Well I'm trying!" Botan wailed, holding up the glass.

"Don't you have a better way of spying on people?" Shizuru asked, quirking a sceptical eyebrow at the glass. "You're assistant to the spirit detective team, surely you've got some decent bugging devices like other detectives?"

"Well the Psychic Spyglass would allow us to see through these walls, and I could probably lip-read what they're saying to each other," Botan replied.

Shizuru groaned and hung her head in exasperation.

"I don't think I want to know anyway," Keiko said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"You should probably wash your face before you let Yusuke see you again," Botan advised her.

Keiko looked down at her sleeve and yelped in alarm as she noticed a black smudge-mark. She began frantically rubbing at it, but the mark persistently remained.

"I think it's stained…" she said quietly. "And this was my favourite sweater, and now it's ruined…"

Yukina lifted herself up onto her tip-toes, peering at the mark on Keiko's sleeve curiously.

"Unless you know a way to remove stains, Yukina?" Keiko asked her.

Yukina slowly shook her head, her eyes never leaving the stubborn black mark that had completely obscured the pale blue of the fabric beneath it.

Botan yipped and darted off as Koenma exited the temple, and Shizuru started after her, moving at a much more controlled pace. Keiko desperately swiped her sleeve at her face several times before turning to Yukina with a hopeful smile.

"How do I look?" she asked.

Yukina pulled a hankie from her sleeve and passed it to Keiko, smiling gently. Keiko blushed slightly and quietly thanked her. Behind them Koenma was trying to tell Botan to help Kuwabara on a little mission, but she was talking over him, trying to make him tell her why. After several minutes of pointless exchanges, Koenma left in one direction and Botan stomped off in the other, rejoining Keiko and Yukina by the side of the temple.

"He won't tell me what's really going on," she complained. "And I have a right to know!"

She yelled the last part at Kuwabara, who was too busy arguing with Shizuru to notice. Botan sighed, her shoulders slouching in defeat.

"What did he ask you to do?" Keiko asked her.

"I have to go with Kuwabara," Botan grumbled.

"Well maybe Kuwabara will tell you what they're up to?" Keiko suggested.

"He probably doesn't know either…" Botan muttered, scowling over at Kuwabara.

Her expression softened a little as Yusuke and Kurama appeared in her line of sight. Yusuke immediately began amusing himself with teasing Kuwabara – who was trying to wriggle out of the choke-hold his sister had him in – and Kurama turned towards the girls, smiling slightly and starting towards them.

"Maybe you could ask Kurama?" Keiko whispered, nudging Botan with her elbow.

"He's the most secretive of them all," Botan whispered back. "He's the least likely to tell us anything!"

"But he likes you!"

Botan turned her head sharply to look directly at Keiko. She started to question her, but stopped abruptly as Kurama joined them.

"Hello," he said.

"Hi Kurama," Keiko said, nudging Botan again.

Botan glowered at her again before turning to Kurama.

"I'm sorry for your troubles, Botan," he said.

"Lord Koenma never tells me anything," she replied dejectedly. "I never get to do anything exciting like you boys do!"

"You help us in other ways," Kurama assured her. "And we need somebody to make sure Kuwabara gets things right."

Botan tried to smile, but she was still too upset and annoyed about being left in the dark again to make her gesture seem genuine.

"Would you ladies excuse me for a moment?" he added. "I need to talk to Yukina."

Botan and Keiko both looked back over their shoulders at Yukina, who looked as surprised as they felt by Kurama's words.

"I suppose I should help Kuwabara," Botan said with a sigh.

"Somebody has to…" Keiko added.

Together they moved off, leaving Yukina alone with Kurama. She clutched her hands tighter and tensed as he stepped closer to her, silently wondering why he had asked for her exclusively.

"Yukina," he began, leaning towards her.

She looked up at him, silently noting that he was standing so close to her that she could see could see the tiny flecks of gold in his green eyes.

"I know that Hiei regularly visits you here," he continued. "What I want to know is when the last time you saw him was?"

Yukina paused, monetarily at a loss for words.

"Has it been a long time?" Kurama asked.

She shook her head, her mouth moving wordlessly.

"Well that's good news," he said. "I had heard that he has been in hiding lately."

"I meant to say yes," she said quietly. "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting you to ask that question."

He nodded.

"Why would Mister Hiei be hiding?" she asked. "He's so brave, I didn't think he hid from anything."

"It's nothing to worry about," he replied, straightening up and turning his head away from her. "I'll find him."

"Is something terrible happening?" she asked, looking up at the side of his face expectantly.

"It's nothing to worry about," he repeated. "Kuwabara would never let any harm come to you."

Yukina glanced over at Kuwabara, who was pulling faces behind his sister's back. She turned back to Kurama, but found him still looking at something in another direction, and when she followed his eyes she was not entirely surprised to see that he was looking at Botan, who was standing alone, searching through her sleeves for something she had apparently misplaced.

"She's very pretty," Yukina said.

She turned to Kurama to gauge his reaction to her comment, but he had already walked off and was apparently too far away to have heard her. She looked around the others: Botan, searching for something and frantic about whatever the current problem was; Shizuru, trying to wheedle information out of Yusuke; Yusuke, trying not to laugh at Kuwabara; Keiko, trying to check her reflection in a window as she wiped the remainder of her smeared mascara from her eyes. It was a little chaotic, and so Yukina turned away from them all and crossed the lawn to the barn Puu lived in.

Puu was as happy to see Yukina as always, calling out to her and nodding his head as she approached. She gathered up a handful of corn from his food bowl and held it out in front of him, smiling at the light, tickly feeling of his beak against her palm. She moved her free hand to his mane, combing it back with her fingers, her eyes watching as the black hair spilled over her skin. It was almost mesmerising.

* * *

Yusuke yawned openly, stretching his arms above his head. As he finished, he noticed both Kuwabara and Koenma watching him, their faces flat.

"What?" he snapped. "I'm tired! I've been running around window-shopping in demon world all day!"

"You have sweat-stains under your armpits," Koenma frankly replied.

"I said I was tired and that I've been running around demon world all day!" Yusuke retorted.

"And you stink," Kuwabara added.

"Because I've been running around demon world all day!" Yusuke yelled.

"But you found the supplier?" Koenma asked.

Yusuke's anger vanished.

"Not exactly…" he muttered.

"Well I did my part," Kuwabara told Koenma. "Nobody is sick in any of the towns I visited with Botan. That virus doesn't seem to affect humans."

"But obviously it's affected Hiei pretty badly if even Kurama can't find him," Yusuke said.

"Where is Kurama?" Koenma asked.

"I dunno," Yusuke replied with a shrug. "I guess he's late."

"Not too late, I hope."

Kuwabara yelped in shock as Kurama appeared from the shadows and sat down on the ground, completing the circle the others were sat in.

"I apologise," he said, looking around the others. "It took longer than I expected to find Hiei and to understand the extent of his illness."

"So it's pretty bad, huh?" Kuwabara asked.

"I didn't actually find him myself," Kurama replied. "I looked for a long time, and during that time I found out some have died from the illness already, and it all seems to be originating from one specific region, which must be where the breach is. As a last resort, I visited Mukuro in the hope that she might have more information for me, and she took me to see Hiei. He is in a healing chamber in her basement, and he's quite weakened. He won't be fit to help us any time soon, and there doesn't seem to be any cure for the disease other than rest, rehydration and a strong constitution."

"What if one of us catches it?" Yusuke asked.

"Well, technically speaking, you're the only one at risk, Yusuke," Koenma replied.

"That's not even funny!" Yusuke shot back.

"He's right though," Kurama said. "It seems to only affect demons, and, in the body of Shuichi Minamino, I have immunity."

"I'm in a human body too," Yusuke argued.

"Not any more you're not," Koenma scoffed. "Or did you forget already? You're human body died when Sensui killed it. You were reawakened as a full demon. Unlike Kurama, you are now a full demon, and you are at risk of catching this virus."

"So what the hell am I supposed to do?" Yusuke demanded.

"Prevention is always the best medicine," Kurama said calmly. "You will have to be extra vigilant from now on. I will prepare an antiseptic lotion using the strongest herbs from demon world, and you will need to be sure to apply it regularly, and don't eat anything or put your hands in your mouth without washing them and using the lotion first."

"…This is like being back in kindergarten…" Yusuke grumbled.

"Well, like it or not, we have to soldier on," Koenma said. "The fort is still expanding, time is not on our side, and we need to stop it soon, or it could escalate into an even bigger disaster."

"We probably could have done more if Urameshi had found the weapons shop like he was supposed to," Kuwabara muttered.

"Oh yeah?" Yusuke snapped. "Well maybe if Hiei had remembered to wash his hands after he used the toilet, we could have done a lot more today!"

"There's definitely no chance of Hiei recovering by, I don't know, tomorrow morning?" Koenma asked Kurama.

Kurama shook his head.

"I'm afraid not, no," he replied.

"Well, it's not like he actually does anything helpful when he's here," Kuwabara said.

Yusuke arched his eyebrows and Kuwabara faltered.

"Okay, maybe it would have been helpful to have his big scary dragon and maybe he could have told us where the breach is," he conceded.

"Let's go inside," Koenma suggested, rising to his feet. "It's getting cold out here, and I don't trust Botan not to return here and eavesdrop."

"You eventually got rid of her then?" Yusuke asked as he stood up.

"I sent her back to work," Koenma replied. "I thought if I pretended it was business as usual in spirit world she might calm down and stop interrogating me."

"Yeah, Keiko was a real pain in the ass too. I sent her home though."

"Shizuru wouldn't leave me alone," Kuwabara said. "She was bullying me and nagging me to tell her what was really going on!"

"Well, at least they're safe in their ignorance," Kurama said.

They started to leave to return to the temple, but Kuwabara paused.

"Hey, Urameshi, what's up with Puu?" he asked, pointing to the spirit beast, who was inexplicably laid in an awkward position on the ground a short distance from where they had been sitting.

"I dunno, he's acting all clingy," Yusuke replied. "I guess he's just pissed off because Yukina went to stay with your sister."

"Yukina is staying at my place?" Kuwabara echoed. "I thought she went to stay with Keiko!"

Yusuke shrugged.

"Well, whatever, the point is, she's not here, and now this guy's sulking."

They walked on, but Kuwabara could not stop stealing glances over his shoulder at Puu as he went. He wondered how it was possible for a spirit beast to sulk.

* * *

The next morning Yusuke cooked breakfast for Kurama, Kuwabara and Koenma, after they had all spent the night at the temple. They had agreed to sleep there and rise early so that they could return to demon world as soon as possible and set out to find the breach. Kurama was sitting on the floor in a corner of the room preparing some antiseptic herbs, Kuwabara was designing a bandana for himself and Yusuke was busy at the stove, and so Koenma – who was sitting at the table hovering over his plate in anticipation – was the first to sight Hiei entering the dining room.

Koenma gasped and dropped his chopsticks in surprise, struggling to catch his breath again before finally finding his voice.

"Hiei!" he blurted out.

Kuwabara's head snapped up, his marker pen poised over cloth, and Kurama's head whipped around, his hair slapping the wall at his side.

"We thought you were sick!" Koenma added.

Hiei gave him the sort of look Koenma had last seen him wear when he had told the fire demon that he was only a B class demon.

"Hiei, what are you doing here?" Kurama asked.

Hiei glanced at him but said nothing.

"You look really pale," Kuwabara said before lifting the collar of his T-shirt up over his nose. "Are you sure humans can't catch it?" he muttered to Koenma.

"You do look very pale, Hiei," Kurama agreed, wiping his hands off on his clothes. "Are you quite sure that you should be up and about already?"

Hiei silently crossed the room and sat down at the dining table opposite Koenma.

"Hiei!" Yusuke shouted out cheerfully as he entered the room with a tray of steaming food. "I told them you would turn up just when we needed you! Do you want breakfast?"

Hiei sneered at him, but Yusuke's grin did not falter.

"I'll make you something, three eyes," he insisted. "You look like you've lost weight, and I don't want you embarrassing yourself when you collapse of hunger."

Hiei's sneer twisted into a menacing scowl, but Yusuke remained immune, serving up the food he had to Koenma and Kuwabara.

"Hiei, I appreciate you making this effort," Kurama said, sitting down at Hiei's side. "But I think it's unwise of you to push yourself like this."

Hiei's face neutralised, but still he said nothing.

"No nasty comebacks today, Hiei?" Yusuke asked him.

"Probably not," Kurama answered. "The virus affects the throat, there's a good chance he's lost his voice."

Kuwabara started to laugh, but stopped abruptly when Hiei finally did find his voice.

"Silence, idiot!" he snapped. "There's nothing wrong with my voice, and there's nothing wrong with my hearing, either."

"You sound a bit scratchy," Koenma pointed out.

"He's seriously ill, what do you expect?" Kurama responded.

"I'm fine," Hiei insisted. "I want to find the bastards who gave me this pathetic disease and make them suffer."

"There's the charm," Yusuke said as he crossed back over to the kitchen.

Kurama slowly ran his eyes over Hiei, silently noting that he looked even worse than he had the night before, inside the healing chamber. Apparently the liquid he had been submerged in had done a good job of distorting the truth, because Hiei looked much paler and frailer than usual. He was sweating – which Kurama had rarely seen him do – and he seemed tenser about the shoulders than he usually would be. His hands were resting on the table in front of him, and both were bound in bandages, which was not very unusual for Hiei, but the fact that he had chosen to completely enclose his fingers – all the way to the very tips – in bandages was quite bizarre. Kurama suspected that Hiei was trying to hide something – like the fact that he had lost weight during his illness, and probably some muscle bulk due to lack of exercise – but he decided to wait until they were alone before questioning Hiei on the matter.

"Kurama," Yusuke said, placing down a bowl in front of him. "And Hiei."

Hiei lowered his head, letting out a small growl at what he saw in his bowl.

"I made a little smiley face for your little smiley face, buddy!" Yusuke said, slapping him on the shoulder.

Hiei picked up a set of chopsticks from the table and stabbed them into the arrangement of fried pork and spinach Yusuke had arranged into a cartoon smiley face atop his rice.

"Remember to eat that all up, you're a growing boy," Yusuke reminded him.

"And I'll remember to repay you for your insolence later," Hiei growled back.

"Well I guess he's made a complete recovery then…" Kuwabara muttered.

"That's a good sign," Koenma said. "It means the virus isn't always fatal."

Hiei fixed him with a glare that made him choke on thin air and then quickly distract himself with his breakfast. Yusuke, Kuwabara and Koenma seemed contented enough that Hiei had made a miraculous recovery, but Kurama was not so sure. Something was distinctly amiss about Hiei, but he could not quite figure out what.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Koenma returns to spirit world and the boys head off to demon world to find the breach, but the journey there is not a simple one, and, as his concern for Hiei grows, Kurama inadvertently confesses something to Yusuke, and things start to get awkward. **Chapter 2 – Too Near**


	2. Too Near

**A/N:** The insanity continues. And gets progressively more insane.

 **Recap:** Koenma had bad news for Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama about a band of rogue demons attempting to take over spirit world, Botan, Keiko and Shizuru were frustrated about being left in the dark, and, despite battling an illness, Hiei showed up just at the right moment to help out. How convenient.

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Too Near**

"Are you sure you're fit to join us?" Kurama whispered.

"Huh, idiot fox," Hiei scoffed.

Kurama narrowed his eyes accusingly, but Hiei did not so much as blink. He was wearing his scarf a little higher than usual, and, combined with his hunched stance, he looked as though he was huddled against the cold, and yet still he was clearly sweating, his bandana and stray strands of black hair clinging to his forehead and the sides of his face.

"There's no shame in resting until you are well again," Kurama pointed out.

"I don't slow down for anything," Hiei spat back.

His pride and zeal were certainly recovered, Kurama thought to himself as they moved towards the front door, trailing behind Yusuke, Kuwabara and Koenma.

"Right, it's a nice day out, so let's make this quick," Yusuke said as he stepped outside.

"Let's make this quick because I have exams I have to get back for," Kuwabara said.

"Let's make this quick because there are lives at stake," Koenma said. "And because if we don't, this could spill out into – Botan!"

He jerked back, one hand flying to his chest.

"When did you get here?" he asked nervously, hoping she had not heard his last remark.

"I couldn't sleep, Sir," she said forlornly. "I was worried and I wanted to know what was really going on!"

"Do you know what the best cure for insomnia is?" he asked.

"Finding the answer to my questions about what's going on around here?" she responded.

"No, work! Lots and lots of work! If you go back to work, and work really, really hard, I guarantee you'll tire yourself out in no time!"

Botan's face dropped but before she could start an argument with Koenma, Kurama quickly stepped between them.

"Here Botan, have this," he offered, playing his fingers through his hair and producing a small seed.

She watched curiously as he closed his fist around the seed before slowly opening his fingers outwards again, a plant unfurling from the centre of his palm that shortly bloomed into a flower.

"It's the demon world flower of happiness," he added.

Botan, her eyes still on the plant, pinched the stalk between her thumb and forefinger, plucking it from Kurama's hand.

"The flower of happiness?" she asked quietly, squinting at the radiant purple petals.

"Yes," he replied.

"Okay…"

She reached up her other hand, pinching one of the velvety petals.

"We're going to die, we're not going to die," she said, plucking out the petals as she spoke. "We're going to die, we're not going to die."

"Uh, Botan…?" Kuwabara began awkwardly. "I don't think that's what Kurama meant with the–"

"We're not going to die," Botan said loudly as she removed the last petal. "We're going to die!" she said, waggling the limp remains of the stalk in front of Koenma.

"The last petal said "not"," Koenma pointed out.

"But the stalk says sot!" Botan retaliated.

"Get a grip of yourself!" Hiei snapped, snatching the remains of the flower from her hand.

"Hiei!" she yelped, turning to him suddenly. "When did you get here? And what happened to your–"

"Do you see this?" Hiei interrupted her, shaking the piece of greenery he had retrieved from her. "This is why you don't get to join the fight. This is ridiculous and it makes you look like a selfish, insecure idiot. Is that how you want to look?"

"N-no…" she slowly replied

"Then stop this hysteria at once."

Botan slowly looked around the others before talking again.

"What happened to his–" she began.

"I think you're needed in spirit world, Botan," Hiei cut her off.

Botan's eyes doubled in size, but she stopped talking.

"You are needed in spirit world Botan, and so am I," Koenma said to her. "So, shall we?"

"He's never called me by my name before," she said vaguely, watching Hiei over her shoulder as Koenma tried to usher her away from the others. "I didn't even know he knew what it was…"

Behind her Hiei gulped audibly and turned his back on her.

"Well, now that they're gone, let's get down to business," Yusuke said. "Hiei, you know your way around demon world better than any of us, and we need to find a major weapons dealer. Any ideas where we should look first?"

Yusuke watched the back of Hiei's head expectantly, but Hiei seemed not to have heard him.

"Hiei?" Kurama said, stepping closer to him.

"I think it's dead," he said, turning around suddenly. "Can you resurrect it?"

Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara all looked down at the wilted remains of the flower cradled in Hiei's upturned palms.

"No, I can't," Kurama eventually said.

"Oh…" Hiei said quietly.

"It's alright, it's not a functional plant," Kurama assured him. "It's just a flower, typically given to a… Special friend…"

Kurama glanced at Yusuke and Kuwabara, but both were still too busy trying to figure out why Hiei was worried about a flower to notice anything the fox demon had said.

"I have plenty more," Kurama said, picking the flower from Hiei's hands and tossing it aside. "For now we need to concentrate on finding that weapons dealer. I think I know which region it's in, and we were hoping you would be able to find it for us from there."

"Yeah, use your freaky eye to find out where we need to go!" Kuwabara suggested.

"Hey, I never even thought about that!" Yusuke said. "Get your eye out, Hiei!"

Hiei leapt back a step, eying Yusuke over warily as he tried to reach for his bandana.

"Let's not force him, he's clearly still feverish," Kurama warned Yusuke.

"Right," Yusuke agreed. "So you take us to where you think the weapons place might be Kurama, and maybe we can find it from there."

"Why do you need to find a weapons dealer?" Hiei asked Kurama.

"Some demons have forced their way into spirit world, and they are using specialised weaponry to gradually take over the entire realm," Kurama explained. "The SDF are trying to hold them at bay, but we need to cut them off at their source in demon world, and the easiest way to do that will to be to find the merchant supplying them and cut off that supply."

"I see," Hiei said, nodding his head. "Which part of demon world are we going to?"

"A large town within Mukuro's territory, you may be familiar with it," Kurama replied.

"What's it called?" Yusuke asked.

"Arbeinia," Kurama said.

"Arbeinia?" Hiei echoed.

"Yes," Kurama confirmed. "You are familiar with it then?"

Hiei gave a small, lop-sided smile.

"I am," he said. "There is a little stone building connected to a cave in a hillside beyond the town that sells strange and powerful long range weapons."

"Great!" Yusuke said, smiling cheerfully. "See you guys? I was right about Hiei! He always shows up just when we need him!"

Yusuke slapped Hiei on the back, taking a little longer than Kurama and Kuwabara to react when Hiei went flying into the temple wall with a clatter and then slid to the ground in a crumpled heap of black fabric. Kurama and Kuwabara turned to glare at Yusuke, who shrugged innocently.

"Oops?" he said.

Kuwabara quietly scolded him for being idiotic and Kurama moved over to Hiei's side.

"Perhaps once you have shown us where the dealer is, we should take you back to Mukuro," he offered.

"No," Hiei said sternly, standing up and smoothing down his cloak. "I'm fine. I can keep up with you. I can keep up with all of you."

"Nobody said you couldn't," Yusuke pointed out.

Hiei cleared his throat and fidgeted slightly. He was clearly embarrassed about falling over so easily and revealing just how weakened he still was from the virus, Kurama thought, and, as he dragged one bandaged hand over his sweat-soaked hairline above his bandana, Kurama also noted that Hiei was still particularly pale and uncharacteristically sweaty.

"Stay close to me, Hiei," he suggested.

"Okay," Hiei immediately replied, his head snapping up and his eyes meeting Kurama's.

Kurama was a little surprised that Hiei had agreed so readily, but thought that perhaps he was just glad that he was not being asked to stay close to Kuwabara.

"Let's go," Yusuke said.

"Slowly," Kurama added.

Yusuke nodded.

"Right, slowly," he said. "Because we've got Kuwabara with us."

"Hey!" Kuwabara protested.

Yusuke started towards the temple gate, laughing off Kuwabara's complaints as he went. Kurama followed them at a distance, with Hiei walking closely behind him.

"Is Arbeinia part of your patrol route?" Kurama asked as they walked.

"It's just…" Hiei slowly replied. "It's the first place I ever saw when I left home."

"Oh, of course," Kurama agreed. "It's very close to the floating ice village, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, I… Wait, what?"

"Well, when you were cast out of the ice village, you probably landed in Arbeinia. The thought had never crossed my mind before."

Kurama glanced over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of Hiei gulping and breaking out into another sickly sweat.

"Don't worry," Kurama assured him. "I won't mention it to the others. It's also a good reason not to linger there long though."

"What…?" Hiei echoed. "I don't want to linger there, but why don't you?"

Kurama twitched slightly.

"We wouldn't want the ice village to be exposed by any of this," he said, turning his head away from Hiei.

"I didn't know you cared," Hiei said.

"It's the right thing to do."

They walked on together the rest of the way in silence: but both of them felt distinctly aware that something was amiss, and both felt that the other was hiding something.

* * *

"Oh… God!"

Yusuke stopped short, turning his head to look down at Kurama, who was suddenly doubled over at his side, his hands on his knees, his red hair spilling over his shoulders to hang down either side of his face.

"Everything okay, fox boy?" he asked.

"Nrg, just have to keep going," Kurama replied, straightening up again with great effort.

Yusuke eyed him over before looking out ahead of himself, where Kuwabara was in the process of being talked into buying a length of silk from a busty female bat demon and Hiei was standing on the spot staring up at the sky, his eyes large and baleful.

"Well this is fun…" he muttered.

"We have to keep going," Kurama insisted.

Kurama had been fine until they had neared Arbeinia, at which point he had started to become weakened for no apparent good reason.

"Maybe you caught the virus," Yusuke suggested to him.

"I've caught something, but it's not the virus," Kurama muttered.

Yusuke lifted his shirt collar up over his nose, and finally Kurama's dilated pupils focused.

"I don't have the virus, Yusuke," he said in a more even tone. "We know humans can't catch it, remember?"

"We trusted Kuwabara to get that information," Yusuke replied through his shirt. "So, you know, probably not the most reliable…"

Yusuke pointed at Kuwabara, who was blushing and stammering awkwardly, all the while trying to keep his eyes on the wares the bat girl was trying to sell him.

"It's not the virus," Kurama insisted. "It's… Something else."

Yusuke took a step back from him. Kurama looked about himself before stepping forwards to narrow the gap Yusuke had just created.

"We can't linger here," he said in a hushed voice.

"I don't want to linger here," Yusuke replied, stepping back again. "I want to find that gun shop and kick some ass, and I want to do it right now. But try telling that to the "warrior of love" and the space cadet."

Kurama and Yusuke both turned to look first at Kuwabara, who was trying to politely stop the salesgirl from tying a bejewelled scarf around his neck, and then at Hiei, who was turning in the spot, his head tilted back looking up at the clouds overhead in an apparent state of wonder.

"Maybe we should just leave them here and find the weapons dealer ourselves," Yusuke suggested, turning back to Kurama.

Kurama still looked a little edgy to Yusuke, and he was still watching Hiei, but he nodded and again tried to focus his eyes.

"Yes, let's get out of here," he agreed. "Hiei said the weapons dealer he knew of is on the other side of that hill beyond the city limits."

Kurama pointed to the low but steep hill in the middle distance to indicate his point.

"Okay, well, let's just…."

Yusuke's voice faded as Kurama took off through the marketplace without him.

"Go then," he finished.

He sighed before jogging over to Kuwabara, who was in the process of untangling himself from a silk sarong.

"Hey, you're on nurse duty, me and Kurama are gonna go shut down that weapons shop," Yusuke said.

He then took off, grinning to himself as Kuwabara yelled complaints after him. By the time Kuwabara had managed to unwind himself from the multiple layers of brightly-coloured silks the demon girl had wrapped him in, Yusuke was long gone from sight. He turned to Hiei apprehensively, but found him staring up at the sky. Kuwabara turned his head upwards, looking about the thick clouds that filled the sky overhead but failing to find anything of interest amongst them. When he lowered his head again, Hiei was looking directly at him, his eyes looking suddenly unnaturally enormous.

"Where are the others?" he asked.

"They left," Kuwabara replied.

Hiei looked about himself frantically, looking even more pathetic than he already did.

"Without us?" he asked, turning back to Kuwabara.

"Yeah, they said you're too sick to go with them," Kuwabara replied.

He expected Hiei to snap back at him with something cutting before disappearing after Yusuke and Kurama in a cloud of dust: but instead he remained still, his expression becoming slightly more pathetic.

"I can keep up with them," he eventually said, his voice barely audible. "I can keep up with all of you."

"Well now you're sick, and now you're really slow," Kuwabara bluntly reminded him. "Just wait here, they'll be back soon."

Hiei's eyes narrowed and he looked a little more like his usual, sulky self.

"So I have to wait here alone with you?" he asked.

"I'm not any happier about it than you are, tiny," Kuwabara flatly replied.

"Don't call me names, it's beneath you."

Kuwabara frowned.

"I think you're still really sick," he said slowly. "Because I don't think you just said what you meant to say."

"I always mean what I say," Hiei quietly replied.

Kuwabara nodded slowly, before yelping as the salesgirl tugged at his arm and began trying to convince him that he needed a feathered shawl. He hoped Yusuke and Kurama got back quickly and that the mission would end soon after that, because it was rapidly turning into the most surreal experience of his life.

* * *

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Yusuke snapped as the hunch-backed troll strolled past him. "Hey!"

The interior of the weapons shop was dark and dusty, and there was little merchandise on display, and most of what was visible looked relatively inconspicuous: there were swords hanging on the walls, bow and arrow sets arranged in display baskets on the floor, spears and staffs laid out on a table in the centre of the room and a selection of small daggers, throwing stars, darts and an array of small bombs in a glass display cabinet by the counter. But behind the counter, the shop sunk into the cave, quickly fading into blackness, beyond which anything could be concealed.

"Have you been selling big weapons to weak assholes lately?" Yusuke asked again.

"I only answer questions asked by paying customers," the troll replied, dusting at an ornamental sword with a grimy cloth.

"Damn it…" Yusuke growled, cracking his knuckles.

He started to form a plan about making the shopkeeper wear one of his display baskets, but before he could enact it, Kurama picked up a staff from the table and swung it through the glass display cabinet, spraying glass and ammunition everywhere.

"Hey!" the troll snapped, round on him.

"Stop selling to the bandits trying to take over spirit world, or you will never sell to anyone again," Kurama warned him.

"Yeah!" Yusuke agreed.

"I'm not refusing sales because a couple of pretty boy kids asked me to," the troll flatly replied.

Kurama plucked a small grenade from the pile of rubble he had created, pulling out the pin.

"Do you even know what that is?" the troll yelled desperately.

"Of course I do," Kurama calmly replied, tossing the grenade into the darkness beyond the counter.

"What are you–"

The troll and Yusuke both cried out alarm and shielded their heads with their arms as a small explosion sounded from the darkness of the cave. Kurama remained perfectly still, his hair blasting out to one side of his head before settling back down a little unevenly down his back.

"Aw!" Yusuke complained, hooking his shirt collar over his nose again. "What is that?"

"It's a stink bomb," the troll replied before cupping a hand over his nose and mouth.

"Why did you pick a stink bomb, Kurama?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama did not answer him, instead moving into the brown clouds billowing out of the mouth of the cave. Yusuke started to think that Kurama had in fact caught the demon virus, because he was acting about as logically and sanely as Hiei, and he wondered if he could even trust the supposed "antiseptic lotion" Kurama had given him that morning: but his doubts faded again as the smoke began to dissipate and he saw that Kurama had closed off the mouth of the cave with a selection of pulsing, angry, fang-bearing demon plants that he had rooted directly into the dirt around the rocky cave-side.

"I think that should buy us enough time to find the breach and follow it into our foes' lair," Kurama said as he approached Yusuke.

"Nice work!" Yusuke agreed.

Together they left the shop again, ignoring the ranting troll behind them. Yusuke lowered his shirt as they stepped outside, but quickly hoisted it back up again when he realised that the stench of the bomb Kurama had deployed was lingering beyond the walls of the shop itself.

"Let's get back to Kuwabara and Hiei," he said through his shirt. "It's probably not a good idea to leave them alone together for too long, I don't want to have to explain to Shizuru that all that's left of her brother is a bloody head on a fence post in demon world."

Yusuke walked on down the hillside for several seconds before turning to Kurama for his response, only to find that he was alone. He stopped abruptly and turned around, looking back up the hillside, where he eventually spotted Kurama, still standing in the slightly discoloured air around the shop, seemingly unaffected by the rotten stench around him.

"Hey, Kurama?" Yusuke called back to him, his voice still muted by his shirt, which he was not ready to pull down just yet. "You okay back there?"

"Go on ahead without me, I'll wait here in case any of the criminals return here looking to purchase more equipment," Kurama called back.

"I… Guess that makes sense…" Yusuke agreed. "You don't have to stand right there in the middle of the stink though, right?"

Kurama had an unnaturally serene look on his face for anyone standing in a cloud of air so toxic: one breath of it had been enough to make Yusuke's eyes water, and he wondered how Kurama, with his super-sensitive nose, could endure such torture with such grace.

"He's got the virus," Yusuke muttered to himself, turning away from the disturbing scene. "I just hope I get it next, so that I don't have to watch Kuwabara go crazy too…"

* * *

"What are you doing?" Hiei asked.

"I have to go," Kuwabara replied, glancing about nervously before ducking into a narrow alleyway.

"Go where?" Hiei asked, moving to stand at the end of the alleyway.

Kuwabara curled his lip at the stunted fire demon.

"You're even weirder than usual, half-pint," he muttered.

Hiei looked unaffected by his words, and so Kuwabara proceeded to unzip his fly and relieve himself against the wall. He was unsure if he was surprised or not that Hiei gasped and clapped his hands over his eyes.

"Shut-up, Hiei!" Kuwabara snapped at him.

"I-I didn't say anything!" Hiei replied, his hands still covering his face.

"You didn't have to!" Kuwabara shot back. "You're just freaking out because I'm a human! I bet you wouldn't freak out if a demon took a slash in front of you!"

Hiei slowly lowered his hands, but as Kuwabara shook himself off, Hiei gasped again and again he covered his face.

"I'm putting it away, calm down!" Kuwabara grunted.

Hiei waited until Kuwabara had loudly zipped up his fly before lowering his hands again.

"Do you let other men watch you urinate, or just me?" he asked quietly.

"What the hell are you talking about "let you watch"?" Kuwabara yelped. "I didn't "let you watch"! It wasn't like that!"

"I don't understand," Hiei replied. "Where I come from, it's considered vulgar to urinate in the presence of another."

"Don't give me that crap, you've peed in front of me plenty of times!"

"I have?"

"Yes!"

"And you watched me do it?"

"Well yeah, I – wait, what? No! I didn't deliberately watch! Not like that I didn't!"

"I think it's very rude to watch someone urinate."

Kuwabara scrunched up his face, and, for the first time in his life, he was ridiculously happy to see Yusuke approaching him looking angry and ready to beat someone up.

"Urameshi!" he called out cheerfully, waving a hand above his head.

"Where's Kurama?" Hiei asked as Yusuke joined them.

"The same place as you: cuckoo land," Yusuke answered. "Hey Kuwabara, how many fingers am I holding up?"

Yusuke stuck up his middle finger at Kuwabara, who was still too happy at no longer being alone in an awkward conversation with Hiei to stop smiling.

"One!" he cheerfully replied.

"Hm…"

Yusuke lowered his hand, his face twisting sceptically.

"Can we go now?" Kuwabara asked him.

Yusuke looked down at Hiei, his face twisting further still.

"You look terrible," he frankly told him.

"I look the same way I always do," Hiei cryptically replied.

Yusuke sighed and turned back to Kuwabara.

"Let's go," he said. "Kurama's waiting for us up on the hillside, and I'm pretty sure I passed a pharmacy coming down here, so maybe we can pick up a pack of junior aspirin for three eyes on the way back."

He turned and began to walk back in the direction he had come from. He knew running was not going to be an option, as Hiei was still pale and clammy, and he was looking positively bewildered – though that was probably a side-effect from being left alone with Kuwabara, Yusuke decided.

"So uh, this virus that Hiei's got, what do we do if you catch it next?" Kuwabara asked.

"I'm not gonna catch it," Yusuke corrected him. "And even if I did, you shouldn't need to ask what you do. You keep going. Close the damn breach, get those bastards out of spirit world, and stop the virus from spreading any further. And besides, there's more chance of you catching it than me."

"But humans haven't been affected by it," Kuwabara replied.

"Kurama said that too, and he said he was safe in his human body, but he's started sweating and acting weird too, so it's only a matter of time before he's howling at the moon and talking in riddles like little loony tunes over there."

"Kurama is sick?" Hiei asked.

"I bet he's not as sick as you…" Kuwabara muttered.

"I'm fine," Hiei insisted.

"You still sound like you're trying to swallow a golf ball, you're so white you're reflecting sunlight and you're sweating more than Kuwabara after that one time he saw an episode of Girls Gone Wild," Yusuke bluntly told him.

"Girls Gone Wild?" Hiei echoed.

"It's a special television programme," Kuwabara nervously replied. "It's of great educational importance."

"No it's not," Hiei said quietly.

"Yes it is!" Kuwabara snapped. "And how would you know anyway?"

"It's a television show that depicts the heights of depravity young human women can stoop to."

Yusuke snorted in amusement and Kuwabara started to turn red.

"Well if you know that Hiei, obviously you watch it too!" he pointed out.

"I did watch it," Hiei flatly replied. "Just once, and only then because I happened upon you sitting watching it."

"I don't remember that…" Kuwabara muttered.

"I didn't make myself known to you," Hiei explained. "And you were too enraptured with what you saw to notice me for yourself."

Kuwabara stumbled to one side until Yusuke was walking between him and Hiei.

"This entire mission is stupid enough without you acting up too, Kuwabara," Yusuke warned him.

"Just don't leave me alone with Hiei again!" Kuwabara whispered to him. "He just said he snuck into my room one time when I was watching TV and just watched me, and before that, while you were gone, he watched me pee and then asked me loads of weird questions about it!"

"I wasn't watching you, I was watching the television," Hiei said sternly. "I didn't know human females behaved that way – I didn't know females of any creed behaved that way. I was appalled and overwhelmed, but mostly I was disappointed that watching their downfall was a form of entertainment to you!"

"Damn it!"

Yusuke stopped abruptly, and Kuwabara and Hiei stopped at either side of him.

"Nobody else talks until we get back to Kurama!" he shouted, glancing back and forth between the two, daring them to defy him. "Anybody talks between now and then, and I'll kick both your asses! I don't care who it is, why it is, that you're sick or that you're pathetic. I'll kick both your asses! Now let's go!"

He walked on, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. He had a bad feeling that things were only going to get more complicated, as the other members of his team all gradually became ineffective. He tried to console himself with the fact that he would get the pleasure of beating up all of the criminals himself, but it was little consolation when the price to achieve that end was watching Hiei and Kurama go insane.

* * *

By the time Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei were reunited with Kurama by the weapons shop the sky was growing darker, the air was growing colder and gusts of wind were occasionally whipping past them in a most unpleasant way.

"Damn it, I can't believe we wasted a whole day already!" Yusuke complained, huddling against the wind.

"It can't be helped," Kurama replied, glancing at Hiei, who still looked too ill to be out of a healing chamber.

"And it still stinks up here!" Yusuke added.

"What is that smell anyway?" Kuwabara asked.

"Kurama let off a stink bomb," Yusuke replied.

"Oh…" Kuwabara said, nodding knowingly. "That's okay Kurama, those eggs we had at breakfast have been going right through me too."

"Damn it, Kuwabara!" Yusuke snapped. "He let off a stink bomb! He threw a stink bomb, and it exploded, and it made a bad smell! This isn't a conversation about farting! And there was nothing wrong with the eggs I cooked for you at breakfast, you ungrateful son of a bitch!"

"Whilst I appreciate you generating a lot of hot air for us, we really should find somewhere sheltered to spend the rest of the night out of this cold," Kurama said.

Hiei smiled at Kurama's joke and Yusuke calmed down a little.

"Right," Yusuke agreed. "Even though we didn't do that much today, I'm still tired. Is there a hotel near here?"

"Possibly, but I think we should just camp out tonight," Kurama replied. "While you were gone I climbed to the top of the hill to get a better view of our surroundings, and there are tracks moving through the vegetation west of here. I think if we follow them, we will find the opening to spirit world."

"Oh, okay," Yusuke said, nodding. "Then let's go follow those tracks. Maybe we could finish this before the night's over and just go home after?"

Kurama shook his head.

"The tracks disappear into the horizon, their conclusion is some distance away," he said. "And they move through an uninhabited, over-grown wasteland. At the speed we're moving, it will probably take half a day to reach the end of the tracks, and that will be travelling through difficult and remote terrain. I suggest we go to the start of our path and set up camp there, since it is a little warmer at the foot of the hill, and tomorrow morning we can start our journey along the tracks."

Yusuke leaned closer to him.

"What about if we ditched Kuwabara and Hiei?" he asked in a voice that was not quite as hushed as he thought it was. "Could we get there any faster without them holding us back?"

"Hey!" Kuwabara protested. "I'm just as much a part of this mission as you are, Urameshi!"

"And you're not leaving me behind again," Hiei added.

"We should stay together as much as we can," Kurama said. "We don't know what lies ahead of us, and we don't know that the weapons those bandits are using to control spirit world won't be turned on us if they sense our approach."

Yusuke's face dropped.

"What do we do if that happens?" he asked.

"Duck and cover," Kurama replied.

"…That was just a lame joke, right?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama shook his head and Yusuke flinched.

"We'll need to approach with caution, and take advantage of our numbers if we are targeted," Kurama added.

"I thought we could just get in there and kick their asses," Yusuke said.

"If they don't notice us, it might work out like that," Kurama replied. "But that's unlikely, and we should prepare for the possibility of coming under attack as we near our destination."

"Hey Kurama?" Kuwabara began. "What did you mean by "take advantage of our numbers"?"

"He meant exactly what it sounds like he meant," Hiei sternly answered. "He means that if we are targeted, we should scatter to reduce the chances of all of us being hit, or else three of us play decoy to attract fire away from the fourth, who would move on ahead and cross the enemy lines."

"Exactly, thank you Hiei," Kurama said.

"I don't like that plan," Kuwabara muttered.

"We can go over the details in the morning," Kurama continued. "But for now we should find a place to set up camp on the other side of the hill."

All four started to move on, at first in silence as they all considered what Kurama had just proposed. After several minutes of walking, the silence was eventually broken by Hiei, much to everyone else's surprise.

"If we are sleeping outdoors tonight, how will we bathe?"

There followed a few seconds more of awkward silence before anyone answered Hiei.

"Why, is tonight time for your monthly bath?" Yusuke asked. "Gees Hiei, who cares about a bath?"

"I do," Hiei insisted. "And so should you. We've all been very active today and we all need to bathe."

"Okay first of all, stop using the word "bathe"!" Yusuke said, irritation creeping into his tone. "And secondly, we've all been on missions that have lasted a lot longer than one day, where we've been a lot more "active", and we never cared about "bathing" then!"

"You smell worse than any of the rest of us," Hiei flatly replied. "I was not so much asking for myself as I was for you. I had hoped you would understand the subtle implication of my words, but perhaps I should just be blunt: you stink, please wash."

"Hey! Shut the hell up! I do not "stink"!"

"You do a little bit…" Kuwabara muttered.

"Not any more than your feet!" Yusuke shot back.

"It's a bacterial condition!" Kuwabara argued.

"Let's not argue about something this petty," Kurama said calmly.

"Hiei started it!" Yusuke protested. "And besides, if I do smell, it's a man smell!"

"No, it's more like the smell of fresh sweat soaking into clothing already rotted with old sweat," Hiei replied.

"Hey, why don't you come over here three eyes and I'll show you something really sweaty–"

"Yusuke, please," Kurama cut him off. "Hiei is just teasing you."

"No, I was just being honest," Hiei said.

"Hiei, stop it," Kurama said to him. "If you are teasing, now is not the time, and if you are genuine, bathing is not an option now. We have to keep moving, and that means we have to sleep outdoors, and there are no hot springs near here. The water here is too cold for bathing, and none us can take the risk of letting ourselves get so cold when we are all trying to avoid catching the virus that you are still recovering from."

Yusuke waited for Hiei to argue back, but he remained strangely quiet, and looked relatively impassive about the whole affair, despite having been quite determined only moments ago to argue his point. Once he was sure that Hiei was not going to continue his argument Yusuke turned away from him, and again the group continued on in silence.

* * *

Yusuke was starting to feel cold. He was unsure if he felt cold because it was quite cold outside and he was sitting in his underwear, his body wet with lotion, or if he was cold because the lotion contained the demon world equivalent of menthol and that was making him feel colder than he actually was.

"How do I make more of this?" he asked, holding out the near empty pot of lotion towards Kurama.

Kurama turned to him, his eyes almost popping out of his head.

"Why did you use so much?" he asked.

Yusuke raised an eyebrow, wondering why Kurama even needed to ask that question. Surely it was obvious why he had to cover his entire body with a one inch layer of antiseptic lotion.

"Because two out of four of us have the virus, and I don't intend to be the third guy who gets it," he eventually explained when Kurama continued to look confused.

"Two out of four?" Kurama repeated, turning to look across the campfire at Kuwabara, who was asleep already.

"Not him, you!" Yusuke corrected him. "You're all sweaty and you're shaking and you're acting weird. Just like Hiei… Wait, where is Hiei?"

"I think he needed a moment alone," Kurama replied. "And I'm not sick, I promise."

"You look sick."

"I'm not. I'm just… We're just too close to the…"

Kurama tilted back his head and Yusuke copied his action, looking up at the sky expectantly.

"The ice village is close by," Kurama whispered, lowering his head again.

"Oh!" Yusuke said, looking over at Kuwabara. "Right! That's why Hiei's so edgy around here! He doesn't want Kuwabara to find out!"

"No, that's not what the problem is."

"Then what?"

Kurama glanced at Kuwabara, who stirred slightly at Yusuke's sudden outburst, but he did not fully awaken, and shortly eased back into a deep slumber.

"It's the smell," Kurama whispered, once he was sure that Kuwabara was asleep. "I can't bear it."

Yusuke sniffed at the air experimentally.

"Yeah, I guess Hiei had a point," he quietly replied. "I guess maybe I do stink a little bit. But I'm still not as smelly as Kuwabara's feet."

"No, Yusuke, not that," Kurama said. "The flowers. It's the smell of the flowers. I know my olfactory senses are more acute than yours, but surely even you can smell them."

"…What about your old factory?"

"Didn't you notice the smell around this town? I could smell it long before we got here, and now it's overwhelming. That stink bomb earlier was a welcome distraction."

"Oh, are you talking about that weird, salty honey smell? Yeah, this place reeks of it, but it's not like it's a bad smell or anything. And it's way better than that stink bomb. Unless… Does it smell differently to you because you're a fox?"

"No, the flowers smell exactly the same way to me as they do to you. It's not the scent itself that bothers me, it's the memories that it evokes."

"Are they super evil demon flowers? Did one of them attack you?"

"No, they're not weapons, they're simple flowers. They only grow in the glacial conditions of the ice village, and so the smell is unique to this area. It's something of a giveaway about the location of the village, but few demons actually know that the smell is coming from the ice village."

"So why is that a bad thing?"

"The smell reminds me of the follies of my youth."

"Be more specific, old man."

"When I was young, long before I was forced to use this body to survive, I came here with some other young fox demons because we knew what the smell meant. We also knew that the ice maidens sometimes have to leave the village for supplies they can't grow or make within the village itself, and when they did, we hunted them down."

"You ate them?"

Kurama turned to glare at Yusuke, who laughed nervously.

"Sorry, but you said a pack of foxes hunted them, so I thought you meant you hunted them for food," he explained.

"I've never spoken about this to Hiei, for obvious reasons," Kurama continued. "So before I explain, I need you to understand that you can never repeat what I tell you next."

"Sure, no problem," Yusuke agreed. "You can trust me."

"Alright. We hunted them for sex."

Yusuke dropped the jar of lotion, which smashed on a rock, spraying lotion and glass shards over the fire, which hissed angrily. Kuwabara grumbled something incoherent and writhed around a little before once more settling back down, blissfully unaware of anything else around him.

"I said we were young," Kurama added. "And stupid. Young and stupid. We found the idea of the ice maidens exciting. I suppose we perceived them in much the same way human society does with high school girls or nuns."

"Dude…" Yusuke said faintly.

"Pretty, naïve, malleable and virginal."

"Okay…"

"If I were still a full demon, this smell would surely have overtaken my common sense. I never came back this way again after that first time, but if I had, I would have hunted them again. My time as a human has made me realise it was immoral and dishonourable to indulge in such violent and cruel practises, but the smell still brings back those old urges."

"Can't you just go jerk o– I mean, um… Did you ever, uh, you know, how many did you…? How many girls did you catch?"

Kurama moved his eyes to Yusuke, giving him a slightly sinister look that only magnified Yusuke's already heightened sense of awkwardness.

"A lot, huh?" he continued. "Well, I guess I understand why you never told Hiei. I mean, maybe that was how he was… Wait… A long time ago you…?"

Yusuke scratched his head as his brain began piecing together various snippets of information.

"Wait," he said, looking directly at Kurama. "Are you Hiei's dad?"

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** After a long, mostly restless night for three out of four members of the spirit detective team, the morning brings yet more confusion for all concerned. Meanwhile, back in living world, Botan is formulating a plan that Keiko and Shizuru mostly find ridiculous. **Chapter 3 – Tough Night**


	3. Tough Night

**Recap:** The boys went to demon world and found the weapons dealer, putting him out of business. Hiei's behaviour continued to get weirder, Kurama was overcome by the smell of ice village flowers in the area, Yusuke was losing patience and Kuwabara was just plain awkward. Kurama confessed to Yusuke that his kin hunted stray ice maidens for licentious purposes.

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Tough Night**

"I guess that's why you guys are so close. That's why you're always looking out for him, right? So… Does that make him like a firefox?"

"Yusuke… I'm not Hiei's father. I never caught an ice maiden. I saw one of them get caught, but I never caught one myself. It's more a sense of frustration and the thrill of the chase that still needles me."

Yusuke sighed, his shoulders sinking in relief.

"Okay," he said.

"And I assure you, I definitely do not have the virus," Kurama said. "As we move away from this town and away from this smell, my self-control will return to me."

Yusuke nodded. He then watched Kurama carefully, a smirk slowly growing on his face, until Kurama met his eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"You never caught one?" Yusuke asked slyly.

"No, never," Kurama replied.

"Why not? Were you too slow?"

"Not exactly."

"What's wrong? You can't run as fast as a girl?"

Kurama smiled himself then, rolling his eyes.

"Speed and athleticism weren't the issues," he said. "The ice maidens are deceptively effective fighters."

"Oh! So it's even worse: you got beat up by a girl!"

Kurama raked his eyes over Yusuke.

"Isn't that a little hypocritical, coming from a man who learned everything he knows about combat from an elderly woman?" he asked.

"Yeah, but Genkai was tough," Yusuke retaliated. "Those ice maidens are just a bunch of girls. I mean, look at Yukina: I don't even think she's got enough strength or the balls to swat a fly!"

"It's difficult to explain," Kurama replied. "But you're wrong. The ice maidens maybe don't leave their home very often or enter martial arts tournaments, but that doesn't mean they can't battle."

"Seriously Kurama, Yukina is like the weakest demon I've ever met. She's the weakest girl I've ever met. She's even weaker than human girls are."

"The ice maidens don't fight the way you or I do. Hiei, as an emiko, is opposite to the ice maidens in every way, including how he fights."

"Hiei just runs right in and punches people and stabs them with his sword and then uses his dragon to obliterate them."

"Yes, and the ice maidens do the opposite."

Yusuke looked up in thought for a moment before answering Kurama.

"So… They hold back, kick people, shot them with guns and then use a giant butterfly?"

Kurama gave Yusuke a pained look.

"What?" Yusuke asked, shrugging.

"Well, it is nice to have a distraction from my pains," Kurama replied.

"What?" Yusuke asked, feeling suddenly confused.

"Hiei is an excellent offensive fighter. He rarely plans ahead, he typically just uses brute force and strength, and his arsenal is comprised entirely of offensive manoeuvres. Because of this, he takes a lot of damage in a fight – look at what using his Dragon of the Darkness Flame does to him – but he doesn't mind, because that's his style. The ice maidens, on the other hand, are excellent defensive fighters. They do plan ahead, they are physically weak and slow-moving, and they never strike unless out of desperation. There is an old saying that the best offense is a good defence, and that's certainly true for the ice maidens, because they fought me off without ever attacking me."

"I don't understand how that's even possible."

"They have other ways of using their powers. They're not interested in conflict. Hiei fights proactively – he seeks out battles – but the ice maidens fight reactively – only when their safety and solitude is threatened. You remember Touya?"

"Sure."

"The ice maidens use a lot of the same strategies that he does. The only difference is that they don't use ice blades or razors."

"I guess that makes sense."

Kurama nodded. Yusuke looked down at the mess of glass and lotion at his side.

"Can you make more?" he asked.

"Of course," Kurama replied. "I have more with me. I only gave you the amount I expected you to need."

"Great," Yusuke said. "So should we wait up for Hiei, or can we just go to sleep too?"

Kurama's nose twitched and a fresh layer of sweat burst out across his forehead.

"Are you okay?" Yusuke asked him.

"No…" Kurama replied, standing up a little clumsily. "The smell is getting stronger…"

Yusuke stood up at his side, sniffing at the air around them.

"Oh yeah, I can smell that too!" he said.

He started to turn to Kurama to ask him why he thought the smell was getting stronger, but Kurama had already started to walk away from the fire.

"Hey!" Yusuke shouted, wakening Kuwabara with a jolt. "Kurama! Where are you going?"

He ran around the fire, barely missing kicking Kuwabara in the head as he went. Kuwabara sat up and yelled after him in complaint, but Yusuke did not look back, instead continuing after Kurama. He caught Kurama a short way from the fire, grabbing his arm to stop him.

"I'm going to move further away," Kurama said, stopping reluctantly.

"You don't have to do that!" Yusuke said. "It's cold out here, stay by the fire!"

"I can't, I… Hiei?"

Yusuke turned to see what had caught Kurama's eye, finding Hiei approaching the fire, a towel over one shoulder and his hair damp and limp about his face.

"I thought you would all be asleep by now," he said casually.

"You took a bath in that freezing cold water?" Kuwabara asked him.

"Just because we are sleeping outdoors like animals, doesn't mean we have to smell like animals too," Hiei replied.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kuwabara yelled. "You sleep outdoors all the time!"

"You don't know that about me. You don't know anything about me."

Hiei lifted the towel from his shoulder up over his head and rubbed it through his hair before producing a length of rope from the folds of his cloak. The others watched in varying degrees of interest as he gathered two sticks, stabbed them into the ground close to the fire and tied the ends of the rope to the tops of the sticks. He then hung his towel over the rope and placed a scrubbing brush and bar of soap on a rock near the fireside.

"You've been carrying a towel, a bath-brush and soap with you all this time?" Kuwabara asked.

"Of course," Hiei flatly replied. "I'm not a barbarian."

"But where?" Kuwabara asked, his tone becoming almost squeaky in his disbelief.

"In my satchel," Hiei plainly answered.

A bag fell from under Hiei's cloak and he pointed at it to illustrate his point.

"Why the hell do you have a bag?" Kuwabara demanded.

"Forget that," Kurama said firmly, pushing Yusuke's hand from his arm. "Where did you get that from?"

Kuwabara shuffled back when he saw the look in Kurama's eyes as he pointed an accusing finger at the bar of blue and green soap Hiei had laid out on the rock. Kuwabara could not tell if it was the firelight or not, but Kurama's eyes looked a shade lighter than usual, and he was not entirely sure that it was not that start of Kurama transforming into his full demon form.

"It's just soap," Hiei replied indifferently.

"No it's not," Kurama growled. "It's soap made with a very specific type of plant: where did you get it? It makes no sense that you would be using it."

Hiei's eyes widened slightly, flicking back and forth between the soap and Kurama.

"It was a gift," he eventually answered.

"From who?" Kurama asked.

"Yukina," Hiei said.

"That's not…" Kurama began. "Possible. I was sure that I…"

"She made it herself," Hiei added.

"Oh yeah, I remember that!" Kuwabara said brightly. "Yukina grew some weird blue flowers in the gardens of Genkai's temple, and she used them to make soaps."

Kurama let out a low growl and turned his back on Hiei.

"Are you okay?" Yusuke asked him quietly.

"That must be the last bar of soap she had," Kuwabara said, blissfully unaware of the situation around him. "Somebody dug up the second patch of flowers she tried to grow and they all died before they blossomed."

Yusuke arched his eyebrows at Kurama.

"It was me," Kurama whispered to him. "I saw them growing, and I didn't want to have to smell them. I didn't think I could trust myself if I… I can't stay here…"

Kuwabara stood up, watching as Kurama walked off stiffly into the darkness.

"What's going on?" he asked, turning to Yusuke once Kurama had faded from sight.

"We have to split camp," Yusuke replied. "You stay here with Hiei, I'm going with Kurama."

Kuwabara leapt forwards, grabbing Yusuke before he could depart.

"What the hell?" he hissed. "You can't leave me alone with Hiei again! Not for an entire night! He was watching me pee earlier!"

"Get over it, Kuwabara," Yusuke replied. "Either you stay with Hiei, or you stay with Kurama."

"Why can't I stay with you and Kurama can stay here with Hiei?"

"Because Hiei and Kurama both need someone to look after them. Either you go with Kurama, or you stay here with Hiei."

"I chose Kurama."

"Are you sure? He's pissed off because he's horny."

Kuwabara froze and Yusuke slowly nodded.

"You stay here with Hiei," he said. "He's too sick to kill you, so maybe you could like, you know, use this chance to bond with him or something."

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara wailed.

"Deal with it, Kuwabara!" Yusuke called back over his shoulder as he started off after Kurama.

"Damn it…" Kuwabara muttered.

He stomped back over towards the fire, almost falling into the flames at what he saw when he got there: Hiei was removing his cloak and folding it up to make himself a pillow, and Kuwabara could not stop himself from staring unashamedly at Hiei's upper body, only moving his eyes when he felt Hiei's eyes glaring at him threateningly.

"Is there a problem, Kuwabara?" Hiei asked as their eyes met.

"You look really, really bad!" Kuwabara bluntly replied. "You're so skinny!"

"I've always looked this way," Hiei said.

Kuwabara shook his head, but Hiei ignored him, lying down onto the ground and resting his head on his bundled up cloak. As he closed his eyes, Kuwabara leaned over the fire to get a closer look at him: apparently the virus circulating demon world was some sort of muscle-wasting disease, because even his baggy vest and the bandages covering his arms could not hide the fact that Hiei was a lot thinner than he used to be, and his bare shoulders were bony and smaller than Kuwabara had ever seen them look.

"Please stop staring at me," Hiei said without opening his eyes. "I can't sleep with you leering at me like that."

Kuwabara sat back abruptly. He was starting to think that maybe spending the night with a horny Kurama was a better option than sleeping so close to a half-crazed Hiei, but when Hiei remained still and said no more, Kuwabara eventually settled back down and shortly fell asleep again.

* * *

Yusuke awoke to the smell of cooking food. He wanted to ask when and how Kurama had managed to catch or acquire a rabbit and two fish, but when he saw the intense look on Kurama's face and the distinct dark circles under his eyes as he watched the meat cook, Yusuke decided against questioning him and instead got up and headed back over to their original campsite to awaken Kuwabara and Hiei. Yusuke got halfway to his destination before stumbling to a halt, his entire body freezing on point and his eyes staring unblinkingly and disbelievingly at the sight ahead of him.

After several seconds of nothingness, Yusuke started to think that he was hallucinating, or else watching the scene from an unusual angle that made it look like something other than it was. He forced himself to keep going, concentrating on keeping his feet moving, but it became increasingly difficult as the scene before him remained unchanged. He managed to bring himself to within a few feet of the burnt-out campfire before his feet stopped and his body froze over again, his brain running out of excuses for what his eyes were seeing.

"Oh… Damn!" he whimpered as Kuwabara groaned and snuggled his face further into Hiei's hair.

It seemed that his worst fears had been realised: Kuwabara had now caught the virus. Obviously Kuwabara had caught the virus, because there was no other logical explanation for why he was spooning Hiei. And obviously Hiei was still desperately sick, because, although he was not cuddling Kuwabara back, he was lying there and allowing Kuwabara to hold onto him very tightly.

"Hey, uh… Sorry to interrupt whatever the hell the two of you are doing, but uh…" Yusuke began awkwardly. "Breakfast is nearly ready, and we need to get going soon, so…"

Hiei moaned and twitched before slowly opening heavy eyelids. Large red eyes looked up at Yusuke, slowly focusing on his face.

"We need to get going," Yusuke said again. "And then you need to take some serious medication, or something."

Hiei tried to sit up but fell to the ground again under the weight of Kuwabara's arm over his shoulder. He turned his head sharply at the intrusion, his face quickly looking as shocked as it ought to be to see Kuwabara behind him.

"Hey, get off of me!" he shrieked, pushing off Kuwabara's arm.

"Yukina…?" Kuwabara muttered, opening his eyes to a bleary squint.

"Do I look like Yukina to you, idiot?" Hiei snapped, jumping to his feet.

Kuwabara rubbed his eyes and then focused them onto Hiei, sleepiness quickly giving way to horror and disgust.

"Oh God, why were you sleeping with me, you little freak?" he wailed.

"You were sleeping with me!" Hiei snapped. "You crossed the fire to my side, and you were holding me down! You had no right to do that to me!"

"It was a mistake!" Kuwabara argued. "It was that damn soap, it made you smell like Yukina! I got confused!"

Yusuke turned to the bar of soap still sitting on a nearby rock.

"You know what?" he said, bending down to retrieve it. "This is way more bother than it's worth."

He hurled the soap away from the direction of the secondary camp Kurama was cooking at, ignoring the glare his action earned him from Hiei.

"It was a mistake," Kuwabara insisted.

"It was awful!" Hiei snapped. "You had no right to touch me like that! You can't just lie down with me without my consent!"

"Hey, I already said it was a mistake, you little mouse!" Kuwabara yelled. "I didn't want to sleep with you any more than you wanted to sleep with me!"

"When you say "sleep with you", what exactly do you mean?" Yusuke asked.

"Ew, not like that!" Kuwabara wailed. "I meant sleeping close together, not anything else!"

"I would never lay down with him like that," Hiei said to Yusuke. "Never."

"Okay," Yusuke said, nodding his head. "Good, because that would be really weird."

"Never," Hiei said again.

"I wouldn't ever want to do that with you either, Hiei!" Kuwabara pointed out.

"Why, you think you could get a better looking guy than Hiei?" Yusuke asked, smirking as the comedic value of the situation dawned on him.

"I don't need a better looking guy than Hiei, because I already have the most beautiful girl in the world: Yukina!" Kuwabara replied.

"Of course you do," Yusuke said, smirking in amusement. "Tell me again – because I've forgotten – how many dates have you been on with Yukina?"

"Plenty!"

"Right. And how many times have you made out with her?"

"…That's not the point, I'm playing it slow."

"You're playing it ridiculously slow."

"I'm being a gentleman!"

"You're playing it so slow, even if we were timing your relationship in ice ages it would be–"

"Shut-up, Urameshi!"

"Stop it!" Hiei shouted, whipping out his sword. "Both of you! You," he said, pointing his sword at Yusuke, "stop turning everything into an inappropriate joke and you," he continued, aiming his sword at Kuwabara, "don't ever talk about Yukina like that again!"

"I didn't say anything bad about Yukina!" Kuwabara protested.

"You spoke about dating her…" Yusuke muttered. "But maybe you just said that to change the subject from the fact that you slept with Hiei last night–"

"We did not sleep together!" Hiei snapped, turning his sword on Yusuke again. "I would never lay down with Kuwabara!"

"But you already di–"

"Never!"

"You looked pretty cosy there with–"

"Never!"

Yusuke froze as Hiei lunged forwards, the tip of his blade stopping uncomfortably close to his throat.

"You know, ordinarily, I would kick your ass right now," Yusuke said quietly. "But you're still all white and sweaty and skinny, so I'm gonna let it go this time."

"Do what you will," Hiei replied, retracting his weapon.

Yusuke waited until Hiei had replaced his sword to its sheath before continuing.

"Kurama's making breakfast," he said. "So Kuwabara, put some clothes on and eat and Hiei, wait until everyone else has eaten and you can have what's left – because we don't want your germs on our food."

"Where are you going?" Kuwabara asked as Yusuke continued past him.

"I need to take a dump," Yusuke bluntly replied.

"You'd better move far away from this place first," Hiei warned him. "And wash your hands before you return, or you'll be the one spreading germs!"

"Hey, you're the only one here who caught the virus so far, so don't go lecturing me on good hygiene!" Yusuke called back over his shoulder.

Hiei growled and stomped over to his makeshift washing line, where he began retrieving his towel. Kuwabara slowly shook his head and then set about getting dressed, finishing his task at about the same time Hiei finished packing his bag and had once more concealed it beneath his cloak. Together they walked over to Kurama's campfire, Kuwabara sitting down beside Kurama and Hiei sitting down opposite him. As they sat down, Kurama inhaled deeply and noisily through his nose before lifting his eyes to Hiei.

"It's that soap," Kuwabara whispered to Kurama.

Kurama slowly sighed out the air he had inhaled, a small, low growl accompanying his action. Hiei's eyes widened slightly, but otherwise he remained unfazed.

"So, uh, what's for breakfast?" Kuwabara asked, sensing that something slightly sinister was going on between Kurama and Hiei – something he was not keen to learn any more about.

"Meat," Kurama flatly replied, pointing at the cooked meat he had piled up by one side of the fire.

"Right, yum!" Kuwabara said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

Kurama handed him a small stick with a sharpened end, which Kuwabara accepted slowly.

"What's this for?" he asked. "Killing vampires?"

Hiei groaned, stabbing a similar stick into a piece of cooked fish and sitting back from the flames.

"Oh right, yeah!" Kuwabara said, smiling awkwardly. "I guess I'm still tired."

"Please try to stay focused, Kuwabara," Kurama said firmly, skewering a piece of cooked rabbit meat onto his own stick. "By Koenma's estimations – which, in past experience, have never proved particularly accurate – we have five days left before the invasion forces in spirit world take ownership of the orchard. Let's not dally."

"It's Hiei's fault I can't think straight," Kuwabara complained. "He's acting so creepy, I can't focus on anything."

"I'm not acting any differently," Hiei replied. "And neither are you…"

"You're just being a jerk, you little r–"

"Stop."

Kuwabara paused, his eyes moving slowly to Kurama.

"Stop arguing and wasting time," Kurama said, his voice quiet and flat, and yet laced with tones of understated menace.

Kuwabara and Hiei continued eating in silence, eventually being joined by Yusuke, who looked awkwardly around them all before sitting down and reaching his hands out towards some of the cooked meat at the side of the fire.

"Hands!" Hiei yelped.

Yusuke flinched, retracting his fingers and fixing Hiei with an impatient look.

"Use a stick, you'll burn your fingers," Kuwabara advised.

"Oh, right," Yusuke said, looking about for a stick.

"Did you wash your hands?" Hiei asked.

Yusuke glared over the flames at Hiei again.

"As soon as this mission is over, you're going into intensive care, Hiei," he said in a low voice.

"I agree," Kurama said. "You should never have left your healing chamber Hiei, you are clearly not well enough to be on this mission."

"I wasn't talking about him being sick…" Yusuke muttered.

Kuwabara looked around the others, finding them all looking edgy and tense, and so he decided to lighten the mood the best way he knew how.

"I wonder what Yukina's doing right now?" he said.

"Nobody cares," Yusuke grumbled.

"I can find out," Kuwabara offered.

"How?" Hiei asked.

"We're connected by the red thread of fate," Kuwabara replied, holding up one little finger as though to illustrate his point. "Also I can talk to her telepathically. Anybody want to send her a message?"

"Tell her I said she needs to do a better job of washing your feet," Yusuke muttered.

"Yukina does not wash your feet!" Hiei snapped at Kuwabara.

"I didn't say that she did!" Kuwabara argued back.

"Well I guess that explains the smell," Yusuke casually commented.

"Shut-up, Urameshi! Yukina loves my feet, so I don't care what you think."

"I bet she doesn't love them."

"She does too! You don't know what you're talking about! You're just trying to be a tough guy and make stupid jokes!"

"It's not just me who doesn't like your feet Kuwabara. Keiko and Botan notice the smell too."

"They do not!"

"They do too."

"They never said anything to me! And Yukina's been around my bare feet lots of times, and she's never said a thing either!"

Hiei stood abruptly, his eyes almost willing Kuwabara to spontaneously combust. Kurama stood up, gave Yusuke and Kuwabara a warning glare, and then grabbed a handful of Hiei's cloak, dragging him away from the campfire. Hiei stumbled after him a little reluctantly, his eyes still on Kuwabara as he went.

"We don't have time for this," Kurama said once he was confident that they were out of earshot of the others.

"I agree," Hiei said, turning to look up at him.

"Don't get dragged into what they're doing," Kurama added.

Hiei looked down at Kurama's hand, which was still gripped into his cloak. Seeing his action, Kurama opened out his fist, releasing the fabric.

"Yusuke's just trying to torment you," Kurama said as he withdrew his hand. "Ordinarily I would let it go, but this is not the time for jokes."

Hiei smoothed out the folds of his cloak, his eyes slowly lifting up to Kurama's again.

"Torment me?" he asked quietly.

"Many of the things Kuwabara says about his "relationship" with your sister are untrue," Kurama replied.

Hiei froze, a look of mild horror playing across his eyes.

"You and I both know Yukina doesn't return his feelings," Kurama continued, leaning over Hiei and speaking in a whisper. "I know you are unwell, but I need you to keep your emotions in check."

Hiei's mouth opened as though he was going to answer, but he paused for several seconds before finding his voice.

"Of course," he said. "I can do that. For you, I can do that."

"Good," Kurama replied.

He started to move away, but as a light breeze passed by, he was once more slapped in the face with the scent of the soap Hiei had washed himself with the night before, and his mind wandered.

"Can you do another thing for me?" he asked, turning back to Hiei.

"Of course," Hiei replied. "For you, I can do anything."

"Don't ever use that soap again."

Hiei's eyebrows shot up out of sight beneath his bandana.

"I don't care how you acquire it, don't ever use it again," Kurama added.

"Does it offend you?" Hiei asked tightly.

"Very much so," Kurama replied.

Hiei's expression softened a little.

"I had no idea," he said. "But I promise I won't ever use it again."

"Thank you," Kurama replied.

Kurama moved back over to the others, kicking dirt onto the campfire to extinguish it as Yusuke and Kuwabara continued arguing. Hiei remained where Kurama had left him until the others had finished eating and were ready to leave, at which point he rejoined them, loitering behind them as they started to follow the tyre tracks through the crowded vegetation.

* * *

"What… The hell are you wearing?"

Shizuru folded her arms and lifted an eyebrow, shifting her weight onto one foot and fixing Botan with a look she hoped would convey her scepticism.

"Do you like it?" Botan asked, smiling proudly, seemingly oblivious to how ridiculous she looked. "It's an SDF uniform. I borrowed it from one of the SDF officers. Lucky for me, she's about the same size as me!"

"Why would you want to dress like an SDF officer?" Keiko asked. "Or… Am I missing something?"

She glanced back and forth between Botan and Shizuru questioningly, and Shizuru slowly shook her head.

"I'm going undercover!" Botan replied.

"Stupid idea," Shizuru immediately responded. "Your worst idea ever."

Botan gasped, planting her hands on her hips indignantly.

"You're not a soldier, Botan," Shizuru added, stubbing out her cigarette.

"Well of course I'm not really a soldier!" Botan snapped back impatiently. "The costume is just an illusion! I'm wearing it to create the illusion of power!"

"I still don't really understand what you're trying to do…" Keiko said slowly.

"I'm going to join the fight," Botan replied.

"You're not a fighter, either," Shizuru pointed out.

"But I think I can be," Botan said. "And this costume gives me the confidence to believe in myself."

"Really? I thought the costume made you delusional. Oh wait, it does make you delusional, because wearing it makes you think you can fight on a level with Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei."

Botan pouted and thinned her eyes at Shizuru, who simply shrugged in reply.

"It's probably really dangerous," Keiko began. "If Koenma won't even tell you what's really going on, maybe you should stay out of it, Botan. You can still–"

"I have other ideas for how I could join the mission," Botan interrupted her.

"Other ideas?" Shizuru asked flatly.

"Other better ideas," Botan replied.

"Better ideas? Better ideas than thinking that what you wear defines who you are and what you're capable of?"

"I don't understand what you just said, but I have a whole suitcase full of ideas."

Keiko and Shizuru both recoiled in shock and mild dread as Botan threw a suitcase onto Shizuru's bed, where it bounced against the mattress. Shizuru started to tell Botan not to bother telling them about any more of her ideas, but Botan ignored her, throwing open the suitcase with a delighted "ta-da!" Shizuru and Keiko slowly cast their eyes over the array of colourful, excessively conspicuous outfits Botan had packed before turning to each other to exchange withering looks.

"Maybe you could just call Yusuke on your communicator," Keiko suggested, turning back to Botan.

"Ooh!" Botan yelped, her tone so loud and sudden that Keiko jerked back in alarm. "I was supposed to call Yusuke this morning to ask him how he was getting on with his mission!"

"And what did you do instead of calling him?" Shizuru asked.

"I found this outfit, and all of these, packed my case and came here!" Botan replied, oblivious to Shizuru's sarcasm.

"Botan!" Keiko wailed. "Call Yusuke! Right now!"

"Oh, right, yes, of course!" Botan agreed, fumbling in the pockets of her ill-fitting borrowed uniform in search of her communication mirror.

After a prolonged search that Keiko and Shizuru found almost painful to watch, Botan recovered her communicator and flipped it open.

"Yusuke?" she said. "Yusuke, come in!"

Her features thinned as she was answered with muffled cursing before the screen in front of her flickered to life and Yusuke's face appeared.

"What is it, Botan?" he asked.

"And a good morning to you too, mister sunshine!" she sarcastically replied.

"Just get on with it Botan, we're kinda busy here!" Yusuke drawled, rolling his eyes.

"I was just checking in," Botan said. "I just wanted to know if you'd made any progress."

"We found the weapons dealer and we shut him down. We found some tracks, and we're following them now, we think they'll lead us to where we need to be. But it's a really difficult path, we've had to stop to cut down plants and we keep running into giant bugs. But hey, you calling me to chat really helps."

"Well excuse me for caring about the future of humanity!"

Botan sighed, readying herself to lecture Yusuke on the importance of what he was doing – even though she was still not really that sure what he was doing – but she lost her momentum when Kuwabara took the communicator from Yusuke.

"Hey Botan?" he said.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Is Koenma there with you?"

"No."

"Oh. Could you ask him about the chances of humans catching the–"

Botan froze, staring at the communicator with wide eyes.

"What was that last bit?" Shizuru asked.

"Did Kuwabara just say something about humans?" Keiko asked.

Botan did not answer them, her eyes still staring at the communicator, which was currently showing a shaky view of Yusuke's bare chest, and in the background she could just make out Yusuke having a hushed argument with Hiei. After several, indecipherable exchanges, Hiei appeared on the communicator screen, looking distinctly odd to Botan's eyes.

"Botan, we're very busy," he greeted her. "You can tell Koenma that we are making progress with our mission, and if we need his interference, we will be sure to contact him directly."

"Wait!" Botan yelped. "Don't go! Please! Hiei, please, just tell me what's going on! What are you four doing? Where are you going? What are you looking for? Please Hiei, if spirit world is in danger, I have a right to know!"

"It's not my place to tell you what your own superior will not," Hiei plainly answered her.

"Hiei, Keiko and Shizuru are here with me, and we are all very worried! Don't you care about how worried we all are?"

"Why should I? You are idle, shallow things, and I am not of your element."

"Hiei!"

"Also your clothing is quite deplorable: why are you dressed as a man?"

"I'm not dressed as a man! It's called "power dressing"!"

"Even dressed as a man you can't hide how weak you are. Leave those of us with a constitution for such tasks to continue unhindered."

"But Hiei–"

Botan growled in frustration as the link was terminated from Hiei's end.

"As charming and helpful as usual, I assume?" Shizuru asked Botan as she lifted her head again.

"No actually, he was terribly rude and unhelpful," she said, once again oblivious to Shizuru's cynicism. "It was rather difficult to be too cross with him though. You should have seen how he looked."

Keiko and Shizuru exchanged bemused looks before both turning to Botan questioningly.

"He looked just adorable," Botan explained.

"Hiei?" Keiko asked. "Hiei looked adorable?"

"Are we speaking about the same guy here?" Shizuru asked.

Botan nodded slowly, snapping shut her communicator and giving herself a fright.

"It's hard to explain…" she said softly. "He just looked so… Gentle…"

"Wasn't he telling you that you weren't worthy of his time?" Keiko asked.

Botan nodded again.

"Okay, you know what? I have to get to work, so I don't have time to get into how weird you're being today Botan," Shizuru said, closing over Botan's suitcase. "Come on girls, let's get out of here."

"I thought I looked quite dashing in this uniform…" Botan muttered as she helped Shizuru fasten the suitcase shut.

"Yeah, you're a regular knight in shining armour," Shizuru replied, winking at Keiko. "I'd be real happy if you showed up to rescue me from a tower."

"Now you're just being facetious, Shizuru!" Botan grumbled.

She hoisted up her suitcase and pouted moodily at Shizuru, who simply smiled back unsympathetically.

"I could keep up with those boys…" Botan muttered as she left the room.

"Not even if she tied rockets to her oar!" Shizuru whispered loudly to Keiko.

Botan growled out a moderate curse and stomped down the stairs. Shizuru and Keiko followed her at a distance through the house to the front door.

"Well then, if you girls won't support me, I bid you good day," she said dramatically, yanking open the door and starting to cross the threshold. "I shall just have to return to spirit world, bereft of friends and love and–ah!"

Botan squealed, her eyes crossing over as one of her ears suddenly felt as though someone had rammed a cupful of cotton into it. As her head buzzed and her eyes blurred in and out of focus, she turned to the source of the horrendous noise that had sounded so close to her ear that she had became temporarily deaf.

"Puu?" she yelled.

She had to yell just to hear herself.

"Puu!" Puu screamed at her again.

Botan closed here eyes and leaned back, and Keiko and Shizuru clamped their hands over their ears.

"What is wrong with that bird?" Shizuru asked once he had fallen silent again.

"Oh no!" Keiko whimpered. "Something terrible must have happened to Yusuke!"

Botan tilted her head as she studied Yusuke's spirit beast: he certainly did look distressed about something, but Yusuke had seemed fine when she had spoken to him on the communicator only moments earlier.

"He really shouldn't be out here making all this noise…" Shizuru pointed out as one of her neighbours almost fell out of an upstairs window upon sighting the giant blue bird on the doorstep.

"I'll take him back to the temple," Botan offered.

Keiko and Shizuru nodded their agreement and Botan summoned her oar, hanging her suitcase onto the handle and sitting on behind it.

"This way, Puu," she said, taking up into the air.

She watched over her shoulder to be sure that he was following her, and once he had lifted from the ground, she shot off towards the clouds, deciding that it was best to get him out of sight as quickly as possible before someone noticed him. Puu diligently followed her, crying out occasionally as they went. He seemed a little more at ease, and so Botan assumed that he was probably just hungry. With Yukina not at the temple to tend to him, he was probably just feeling neglected – though Botan was not really sure how it was possible for a spirit beast to feel neglected.

Back at the temple, Botan started to lower herself towards the lawns, only to have to veer off to one side as Puu dived towards her, looking almost irate.

"Puu!" she yelped, swerving around in a swooping arc to avoid his second attempt to spear her midair. "What are you doing?"

Puu screeched, almost deafening Botan again, and tried to again fly straight at her. Not wishing to become bird food, Botan shot straight up into the sky, flattening herself to her oar to maximise her speed. She kept going until she had crossed into spirit world, and even then she did not slow down: something was very, very wrong.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** The boys have encountered a problem on their journey and Hiei looks like he's fading fast: but when the gang come under attack, Hiei's saves the day – though no-one is quite sure how he did it. **Chapter 4 – Tricky Nymph**


	4. Tricky Nymph

Another contentious and rambunctious chapter begins...

 **Recap:** Hiei become weirder, Puu turned nasty and Botan wanted adventure.

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Tricky Nymph**

Kurama wiped his hair from his forehead, squinting up at the sun, almost willing it to disappear behind a cloud. The weather had been pleasantly cool at the start of the team's journey, but, just as they had reached an impassable part of the path, the sun had suddenly emerged, the clouds had vanished and the wind had died, subjecting them all to a blistering heat as they tried to cut back the overgrown vegetation blocking their progress. Kurama had used his powers to move what he could, but the remainder was dead and rotting plant-life, and as such, it was beyond his control, and so they had been forced to resort to more rudimentary methods of clearing the path: Kuwabara was hacking away with his spirit sword, Yusuke was focussing his spirit energy into his hands and chopping at the blockage, Kurama was using his Rose Whip and Hiei had been using his sword.

Kurama looked down at Hiei: he looked even worse than before. His face was gleaming with sweat, the bandages around his hands were soaked through and his hair was starting to wilt as though he was literally melting. It was unlike Hiei to suffer in the heat, but he was breathless and favouring his right shoulder after just an hour of cutting through vegetation with his sword. Kurama checked that Kuwabara and Yusuke were both preoccupied before sitting down on the thick, gnarled root Hiei had dropped himself onto.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

"I can keep up with you," Hiei breathlessly replied, his voice high and hoarse in his exhaustion. "I can keep up with all of you."

"You know, pride comes before a fall," Kurama advised.

"I'm fine," Hiei insisted.

"Those two are working hard, I can easily take you back to Mukuro right now."

Hiei turned to look directly at Kurama, his eyes wide and almost childlike in their wonder.

"I know it's a concept you have great difficulty grasping, but I am concerned about your welfare because I'm your friend," Kurama said, smiling slightly.

Hiei failed to pick up on Kurama's jovial tone or the amused sparkle in his eyes, instead continuing to stare at him with a blend of anxiety and defensiveness in his eyes.

"I can see that you want to stay here with us," Kurama eventually conceded.

"I want to stay here with you," Hiei quietly replied.

Kurama nodded, wiping his hair from his forehead again.

"I understand your motivations," he said.

"Do you?" Hiei asked.

Kurama found Hiei's tone and word choice a little unusual, but decided to pass both off as side effects of his frankly pathetic physical state.

"Yes, of course I do," he replied. "You're worried that the virus that has made you so terribly ill will reach human world and infect your sister."

Hiei tensed, the whites of his eyes suddenly visible all around his ruby irises.

"It's alright, they can't hear us," Kurama assured him, waving a hand in the general direction of Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Kurama?" Hiei said, his voice barely audible.

"Yes?" Kurama responded.

"Where is my sister?"

Kurama turned to look directly at Hiei, finding him looking out across the path at nothing in particular, his expression suddenly strangely neutral.

"Don't you know?" Kurama asked. "I thought you watched her most of the time."

"Yes, I know exactly where she is," Hiei slowly replied, his tone unchanged and his eyes still staring.

"Then why did you ask?"

"I just wanted to know if you knew where she was."

"Well honestly, I don't. I suppose she's still at the…"

Kurama's words faded in his mouth, another sweat passing over him: only this time it was not from the heat of the sun bearing down on them. Was Hiei asking because he had overheard what Kurama had told Yusuke the night before?

"She's probably at Genkai's temple," he finished, trying to sound indifferent about the matter.

"Alone?" Hiei asked.

"Well, she has Yusuke's spirit beast guarding her and Botan visits her regularly…"

"Botan, yes."

Kurama stood up again, wiping his hands down the backs of his legs to clear away the bark chippings that were clinging to his clothing from sitting on the old root.

"I should get back to work," he said. "You continue to rest, don't push yourself."

"I can keep up with you, you know," Hiei called after him as he started back towards the others.

Kurama did not acknowledge Hiei's last remark, mostly because he reasoned that it was just something Hiei felt he had to say to justify to himself and Kurama that he was only so slow and weak right then because of the virus, and that, under ordinary circumstances, he would have been leading the way in cutting back the vegetation.

"This is hopeless!" Yusuke complained as Kurama rejoined him.

"Try not to lose focus," Kurama advised. "Don't look at the whole thing, try just focusing on a small part and working your way through there."

"Don't you think it's kinda weird?" Kuwabara asked.

"What do you mean?" Kurama asked.

"Well, this path was clear until we got here, and now it's so blocked, we can barely see those tyre tracks any more," Kuwabara replied. "It doesn't even look like whatever made those tracks could have got by this mess."

"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked.

"Maybe whatever drove out here flew away when it got to this point," Kuwabara suggested.

"Idiot, the tracks went all the way into the trees, and we're still nowhere near the forest!" Yusuke snapped irritably. "But you do sort of have a point. This path is too blocked – like ridiculously blocked. Hey Kurama, do you think someone did this deliberately? Like they saw us coming already and set this up to slow us down?"

"It's possible," Kurama agreed. "Perhaps we should have taken your spirit beast with us. It certainly would have helped for transporting Hiei."

"How many times do we have to go through this: Puu is not a damn taxi!" Yusuke argued.

"But flying sure would have been a lot easier than this," Kuwabara pointed out.

"This would be a lot easier if everyone would shut the hell up and get back to work!" Yusuke snapped.

"Maybe if Hiei did his fair share…" Kuwabara muttered.

"Hiei isn't well," Kurama replied.

"I've never known Hiei make excuses before," Yusuke argued.

"He should use his dragon to clear this," Kuwabara suggested. "If he falls asleep afterwards, I can just carry him. He only weighs like two pounds, and at least if I was carrying him we could all move a lot faster!"

Yusuke began yelling – at no-one in particular – and Kuwabara began yelling back, leaving Kurama trying to call them back into order with a voice he struggled to keep below a shout in order to be heard. After several minutes of pointless arguing, all three fell silent at the sound of an unexpected voice joining them.

"Now boys, let's not bicker!"

"Botan?" Yusuke spat, his head twisting to a quirky angle as his eyes landed on the chipper ferry girl.

"That's right, it's me, Botan!" Botan cheerfully replied. "I've decided to join you as your mission manager!"

"Botan, it's ridiculously dangerous for you to be here!" Kurama said, starting towards her. "Please, you must allow me to escort you back to living world at once!"

He reached out to take her hand but stopped abruptly as a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist, gripping onto him almost too tightly for comfort. Kurama looked down at the grimy bandaged hand clutching onto him before slowly letting his eyes wander to the owner of it, finding Hiei glaring at him as though he had just done something unforgivably stupid.

"What are you doing?" Hiei whispered.

"Taking Botan away from here," Kurama replied, trying to gently pull his wrist from Hiei's grip.

"No!" Hiei yelped, tightening his hold. "Don't touch her!"

Kurama narrowed his eyes, his patience starting to wane.

"Don't touch her Kurama!" Hiei insisted. "Don't you see? That's exactly what she wants!"

Kurama yanked his arm from Hiei's hold, casting him a warning glare before moving to stand in between him and Botan.

"Hiei, as you can see, is deliriously ill," Kurama gently explained to Botan.

"Oh dear," she said, peering over Kurama's shoulder at Hiei. "Poor little guy! Well I have some news that might cheer him up! Look who came with me!"

Yusuke squeaked out a noise of sheer horror as he sighted Keiko running towards him, looking flustered and concerned.

"Keiko?" he yelped.

"Yusuke!" she cried out.

"You idiot, what are you doing in demon world?" he said.

"I was so worried about you, I had to come and see you!"

Keiko slowed as she neared the group, aiming herself to throw her arms around Yusuke's neck: but, several feet short of her goal, she suddenly tripped and fell facedown to the ground. Yusuke growled as he saw Hiei's outstretched foot still hovering near where he had tripped Keiko, his anger only rising when he saw that Hiei was showing absolutely no signs of remorse for what he had just done.

"I don't care how sick you are, you've got no excuse for hurting a defenceless girl," Yusuke growled, stomping towards Keiko.

He started to crouch down to help her up, but Hiei pounced at him, shoving him back before he could reach her. Yusuke staggered back a step, his anger giving way to inconsolable rage as he slowly righted himself, fixing his eyes onto Hiei and curling his fingers around to form a fist.

"Don't touch them!" Hiei snapped. "They're evil witches! Why are you all humouring them? They're hideous monsters, and they will torture you if you let them get close!"

"Hiei, I'm gonna smack you so hard, you're gonna forget your own name…" Yusuke growled in a low voice.

"Hey!" Kuwabara yelled suddenly, momentarily distracting Yusuke from his intentions. "It's Yukina!"

"Yukina?" Hiei muttered, his face paling further still and another layer of sweat glistening over his features.

"Yukina!" Kuwabara called out.

"Kazuma, I was so worried about you!"

Yukina stopped in front of Kuwabara and bowed her head politely.

"What you idiots doing here?" Yusuke asked.

"You're the idiot!" Hiei snapped.

"Yeah, just because nobody came to see you, Hiei!" Kuwabara added. "Maybe if you weren't such a nasty little jerk, you'd have a girlfriend too."

"What is wrong with all of you?" Hiei asked, looking about the others frantically.

"What's wrong with you?" Botan asked him, stepping back from him and eying him over with an air of disgust.

"There's nothing wrong with me!" Hiei argued. "I'm the only one around here who's thinking clearly! You're the ones who are mad!"

"Don't listen to him Yukina, he's just mad because he got sick," Kuwabara said, reaching his hands out towards Yukina.

"No!" Hiei yelled.

Kuwabara cried out in pain, snatching back his hands, a cloud of smoke lingering in the air where Hiei had made contact with him.

"What the hell is your problem, Hiei?" he yelled.

He slowly lowered his hands, revealing a red, dry burn on the back of one of his hands.

"That's far kinder than what that witch would have done to you if you had touched her," Hiei said quietly, pointing an accusing finger at Yukina as he spoke.

"Hiei, this virus has really messed you up…" Yusuke said, shaking his head.

"Oh dear, are you sick?" Yukina asked, turning to Hiei.

"Stay away from me, you evil monster!" Hiei warned her, stumbling backwards as she started towards him.

Hiei's back collided with Keiko and he yelped, jumping around to scowl at her. His head whipped around, sweat flying from the tip of his nose as he looked around Keiko, Botan and Yukina, who were all moving towards him.

"Poor little guy, he looks terrible!" Keiko said, reaching out a hand towards him.

Hiei ducked out of her reach, watching her hand with wide, fearful eyes as it moved over the space his head had been occupying only moments earlier.

"Leave me alone!" he wailed.

"Silly thing, let us help you!" Botan said, moving towards him.

"We're surrounded!" Hiei whispered, looking about the tall, gnarled and decaying vegetation bordering the path. "Why is nobody doing anything?"

"He's sick," Yukina said, reaching her hands out towards either side of Hiei's face. "It's okay boy, I can heal you."

"Get away from me!"

A blinding flash of sunlight reflected off of Hiei's sword as he tore it from its sheath and swung it through the air. Yukina stumbled back from him and a spray of blood hit the dry earth around them with a soft pattering sound.

"What the hell did you do?" Kuwabara cried.

Yukina straightened up, revealing a gash that ran from one shoulder to her opposite hip. She took a step forwards but Hiei was upon her before she could act, hoisting his sword up above his head and driving it down hard through her chest. The blade burst out of her lower back and she let out a cry that made the vegetation around them shudder. Hiei awkwardly tugged his sword from her body, stumbling back, his eyes wide and panicked, staring at the blood staining his blade.

"What did I do…?" he whispered faintly.

Kurama stepped forwards and pushed him to the ground, swiping a hand through his hair and outwards, retrieving a blade of grass and slashing it across Botan's throat in one smooth movement.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Yusuke yelled.

"Oh God, that's not Yukina!" Kuwabara yelped, pointing down at the wounded creature ahead of him. "What is that thing?"

Yusuke watched as Botan grabbed her hands to her throat, her appearance slowly fading into that of a noseless, thin-toothed, warty green monster with sparse wisps of yellow hair littering its scalp.

"Wood nymphs," Kurama said, narrowing his eyes as he surveyed the surrounding vegetation. "And we're surrounded."

Yusuke turned to Keiko, a flicker of something alien passing over her features as he regarded her.

"You bastard, how dare you impersonate Keiko?" he yelled.

Kurama elbowed her in the face and she too turned in the same green monster Botan and Yukina had dissolved into.

"I don't get it!" Kuwabara wailed. "How did this happen?"

"Wood nymphs are very clever," Kurama replied. "They prey on the desires of men."

"You fail, Kuwabara!" Yusuke snapped, punching out as another nymph leapt down towards him. "You're the sensitive one, you're supposed to warn us about stuff like this!"

"I didn't know there were ugly swamp women in demon world who could make themselves look like Yukina!" Kuwabara protested, summoning his spirit sword and backing away from the plants.

"Don't blame Kuwabara, you hypocrite!" Hiei hissed at Yusuke. "You fell for their filthy tricks too!"

"Hey, in my defence, coming to demon world is something those girls are stupid enough to try!" Yusuke argued.

"You disappoint me the most," Hiei added, rounding on Kurama. "Couldn't you smell their approach?"

"I can't smell anything over the scent of that soa–"

Kurama froze, his face tense. Hiei tilted his head questioningly, and for a prolonged and awkward moment, both held their poses: until Hiei spotted another nymph pouncing at Kurama's back.

"Look out!" he cried, pushing Kurama aside and throwing himself at the demon.

The nymph bit down on Hiei's arm, but he appeared unaffected, stabbing his sword through the nymph's gut and twisting the blade until it opened its jaws. He staggered back, his back colliding with Kurama. He twisted his head around, looking up at Kurama questioningly.

"Keep your back to mine, we're outnumbered," Kurama whispered down to him.

Hiei looked over at Yusuke and Kuwabara, who were also standing back-to-back, fighting off any of the nymphs who got close enough to them. The nymphs had at least stopped trying to disguise themselves, but there was an alarmingly large number of them swarming out of the undergrowth. Yusuke barked out a curse before tucking back one arm, a barrage of energy bullets spraying out of his fist.

Kurama almost stumbled as he realised that Hiei had stopped behind him, and, turning around, he saw Hiei frozen on the spot, staring up at the tiny flashes of light Yusuke was generating. A small smile appeared on his face and he moved one hand to his head, pushing his fingers through his hair.

"Hiei, are you alright?" Kurama asked.

"I can feel the static energy from that attack from this close range…" Hiei slowly replied, stretching his arms outwards in front of himself. "It feels all tingly…"

Kurama redoubled his efforts, striking his Rose Whip through four nymphs, cutting them all down in one move: it was now clear to him that the fight had to end quickly, and once it was over, the path had to be cleared because Hiei obviously needed to go back into intensive care. He made sure to keep Hiei behind him as he continued whipping back their attackers. Hiei mostly stumbled around a little, looking awed and amazed at everything around him, his sword hanging limply from one hand. Kuwabara and Yusuke glanced over at him on more than one occasion, but were mostly too busy fighting off the nymphs to pay him too much heed.

After some time, the hoards thinned, and before long the attack stopped altogether, the slimy green bodies of the wood nymphs glistening in the sunlight, made extra shiny by the blood and viscera coating their fallen corpses.

"Nice going, wonderboy," Yusuke said, slapping Hiei on the shoulder.

Hiei smiled up at him and he flinched in surprise.

"I can't believe I couldn't see that horrible monster wasn't Yukina…" Kuwabara muttered as he powered down his weapon.

"Well, thank goodness Hiei was here," Kurama said.

"Why didn't those bitches have any effect on Hiei anyway?" Yusuke asked. "Is it because he could see through their disguise with his extra eye?"

"As I understand it, psychic ability is no defence against a wood nymph's powers," Kurama replied. "Otherwise Kuwabara would have seen through them too. Their disguise is so complete, I couldn't even smell them: not until Hiei shed their blood, then the stench was unmistakable."

"How did they know to make themselves look like Yukina, Keiko and Botan?" Kuwabara asked.

"Like I said, they prey on the desires of men," Kurama replied, stowing away his Rose Whip. "They had probably been following us for some time, and they had, by then, read our deepest desires."

"So… Which one of us wanted Botan here?" Kuwabara asked.

"Don't look at me!" Yusuke said, shaking his head. "And obviously it wasn't Hiei, since he saw those boogers for what they were all along."

Kuwabara and Yusuke slowly turned to Kurama, grinning slyly.

"I suppose it makes sense," Hiei said, turning his head away from the others. "She's always on your mind lately. You haven't been able to take your eyes off of her."

"I guess you could do a lot worse," Yusuke said with a shrug.

"I still don't get why they didn't at least try to disguise themselves as somebody Hiei liked," Kuwabara said.

"They can only take the form of other women."

Yusuke and Kuwabara froze, both staring at the back of Hiei's head, each silently wondering if he realised exactly what he had just said.

"That's true," Kurama agreed. "That's why they only prey on men. That and because they can't read the desires of another woman."

"So does that mean Hiei only desires men?" Kuwabara asked.

Yusuke slapped his arm and he flinched back, moaning a complaint.

"Those monsters don't know what I desire," Hiei replied, turning back to face the others. "And they never will."

"Men then," Yusuke said, smirking at Kuwabara.

"You don't know what I desire either, Yusuke," Hiei quietly answered.

"Let's not continue this," Kurama said. "Hiei, I don't know what to do with you: you showed signs of being more coherent than all of us when you uncovered those nymphs, but you lost your cohesion a little during the battle."

"I got distracted," Hiei replied, looking up at Kurama with large eyes. "It won't happen again, I promise."

Kurama narrowed his eyes sceptically.

"Let me prove to you that I can keep up with you," Hiei said quietly.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Kurama asked.

"Saying what?" Hiei asked.

Kurama started to answer him, but Hiei suddenly yelled out and pushed him aside, moving him out of the path of an injured and angry nymph. The nymph collided with Hiei and together they fell to the ground, the nymph biting into the juncture of Hiei's neck and shoulder. He yelled out in pain and Yusuke and Kuwabara quickly tore the demon from him, swiftly ending its life.

"Damn Hiei, are you okay?" Yusuke asked.

"I'm fine," Hiei replied, hurriedly getting to his feet and staggering away from the others.

He stopped a short distance away from them, one hand pressed into the point where the beast had bitten him, his white scarf slowly blossoming scarlet as his blood soaked into it. Kurama moved over to him, carefully taking hold of his forearm and trying to gently pry his hand from his wound.

"Let me see the damage, Hiei," he said. "A bite from one of those nymphs can be fatal."

"I saved your life," Hiei immediately replied.

"Yes, you did," Kurama replied. "Thank you."

Hiei gave a small smile, before pushing Kurama's hand from his arm.

"I'll be fine," he said in an inappropriately light tone. "I'm a lot stronger than you think I am, Kurama."

Hiei turned his back on Kurama, but Kurama was suspicious of his tone and the amount of blood leaking from his shoulder, and so he grabbed a hand at Hiei's cloak, yanking it from his body. Hiei yelped, spinning around to stare up at him accusingly. His hand was still covering his wound, and, without his cloak concealing it, Kurama could see Hiei's bag from the night before, strapped over his shoulders and hanging in front of his chest.

But his stance and the bag and even the fact that his scarf was still swathed around his neck did nothing to hide how much weight he had lost.

"Hiei, let me see that wound at once," Kurama insisted.

"I'm fine, I'm strong Kurama, I don't need you to fuss over me!" Hiei growled, backing away as Kurama began striding towards him.

Despite Hiei's efforts to escape, Kurama closed in on him and grabbed his arm, tugging it down to expose the shoulder he had been covering.

"There, you see?" Hiei said smugly.

Kurama stared at Hiei's shoulder, unsure what to think. His scarf was still wet with blood as was his black vest, and there was even a damp bloodstain on the underside of Hiei's bandaged hand that had been pressed to his shoulder: but there was no sign of a wound.

"Take your vest off," Kurama said quietly.

"That's not necessary," Hiei said, stepping back and trying to wrestle his arm from Kurama's hold.

Kurama stubbornly held on, grabbing Hiei's scarf with his other hand and roughly pulling it loose, ignoring the way Hiei winced and almost choked upon his actions. He flung the scarf down beside where he had already dropped Hiei's cloak, moving his hand to Hiei's vest and pulling it away from his neck to expose the area the nymph had bitten.

Behind him, Kurama heard Yusuke and Kuwabara muttering between themselves, and they were clearly as shocked as he was to find that Hiei's skin was unmarred. There was fresh blood smeared over his shoulder and dripping from his clothing, but there was no sign of any punctures in his skin.

"How is that possible?" Kurama asked, turning his head to look directly at Hiei.

Hiei's face was almost uncomfortably close to his, and for slightly longer than seemed appropriate, his big red eyes lingered on Kurama's lips before moving to look into his eyes.

"I'm a lot stronger than you think I am," he said quietly. "You see I have already healed the wound."

"That's… Remarkable…"

Kurama pulled Hiei's vest back into place, pausing again as his nose came close to Hiei's hair. Despite the fact that he was still sweating, the smell of the flowery soap he had washed himself with the night before was still prominent, almost as though the heat of his body was reinvigorating it.

"This can't continue," Kurama growled, stepping back from Hiei and releasing him. "We need to move faster," he told Yusuke and Kuwabara as he retrieved Hiei's cloak and scarf from the ground.

"Fine by me, I'm getting tired of this too," Yusuke agreed. "I'll blast this mess away, and Kuwabara can carry Hiei, and we'll all run the rest of the way."

Kurama held out Hiei's belongings towards him.

"I don't want to be carried," Hiei said sharply, snatching his cloak and scarf from Kurama. "Least of all by Kuwabara."

"I think it's a good idea, Hiei," Kurama said. "If we do this, we will reach the end of these tracks with enough time to storm our enemies' fort and disable their attack before sundown."

Hiei quickly hid himself beneath his cloak and began winding his scarf around his neck, his eyes on Kurama the whole time.

"You think this is a good idea?" he asked.

"Let Kuwabara carry you," Kurama replied.

"If you think I should, then I will," Hiei said. "I trust your judgement."

"Thank you."

Hiei nodded, tucking his scarf into place.

"Pick him up and let's go," Yusuke ordered Kuwabara.

Yusuke then took aim at the vegetation, charging his spirit gun. Kuwabara stomped over to Hiei, eying him over in disgust.

"Okay pipsqueak, how do you want me to hold you?" he asked.

"You're not holding me," Hiei quickly corrected him. "You're just carrying me."

"Right, whatever," Kuwabara grumbled. "On my back or over my shoulder?"

"You will not carry me over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes!" Hiei hissed.

"Fine! Get on my back then!"

Kuwabara turned around and Hiei gave one last look at Kurama before jumping onto his back.

"Ew…" Kuwabara muttered. "I can feel his crotch against my spine…"

"Gross, Kuwabara!" Yusuke responded, before firing his spirit gun at the tangled mess ahead of them.

"That's why I don't like carrying him like this," Kuwabara continued, as though he thought Hiei could not hear him. "I like carrying Yukina like this because I can feel her legs around me, but feeling his wad squashed into my spine is just sick."

"What did you just say about having Yukina's legs wrapped around you?" Hiei growled, grabbing a handful of Kuwabara's hair.

"Nothing!" Kuwabara yelped.

"Good," Hiei said, opening his fist and freeing Kuwabara's hair once more.

"Let's go," Yusuke said.

Kuwabara winced as Hiei's hands gripped into the fabric of his shirt at his shoulders, and he took off, running as fast as he could with an angry fire demon on his back, silently hoping that Kurama was right, and that the mission was over by nightfall.

* * *

"Ow!"

"Shut-up Hiei, there's no way that hurt you!"

Hiei sneered up at Kuwabara from the ungraceful position he had landed in after being unceremoniously dropped from the human's back.

"Something doesn't feel right," Yusuke said, eying over the enormous transport vehicle stopped ahead of them.

"It's the feeling of knowing that we just wasted another day," Kurama answered him, reaching out a hand towards Hiei.

"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked. "We found the vehicle they've been using to take their weapons to spirit world. The breach must be around here somewhere, and if not, the driver ought to be able to tell us where it is after a little "gentle persuasion"."

"Idiot," Hiei scoffed, putting his hand in Kurama's and accepting his help to stand up. "That vehicle isn't equipped for transporting weapons."

"What are you talking about?" Yusuke asked. "It's huge and it came from the weapons shop!"

"Hiei's correct, I'm afraid," Kurama said, holding onto Hiei's hand as he steadied himself on his feet. "It's a medical supplies transporter."

"So they hijacked a medicine bus?" Yusuke asked. "Great, first they start a stupid virus and then they cut off the medicine supply! I'm gonna make those bastards pay!"

Yusuke started to stomp towards the vehicle, but stopped short as something tugged at the back of his shirt. He turned around, finding Hiei glaring up at him as though he was doing something stupid.

"There's a good chance that's a real medical supply convoy," Hiei said. "You can't just force your way onboard and start attacking innocents trying to control the spread of the "stupid" virus."

"Hiei's right, Yusuke," Kurama agreed. "Medical supply vehicles may be large in size, but the interior is quite the opposite. They double as mobile hospitals and ambulances, so don't really have the capacity to store large, long range missiles or weapons."

"Maybe they ripped out all the interior to make room for their weapons?" Kuwabara suggested.

"Not likely," Hiei said.

"You're just disagreeing with me because you don't like me," Kuwabara grumbled.

"Dismantling the interior structure is an option, but not a very practical one," Kurama said. "I think we've followed a false lead, though it is still worth our while to check that nothing is being smuggled on this vehicle and to ask the personnel onboard if a cure has been found yet."

"Yeah…" Yusuke said, raking his eyes over Hiei. "Let's see if they have a vaccine for our little mentalist."

Hiei scowled at him but Yusuke turned away before really noticing, tugging his shirt from Hiei's hand as he did so. All four moved on towards the parked vehicle, which seemed oddly still and quiet, as though it had been abandoned. Yusuke boldly led the way, reaching for the passenger door but stopping, his hand barely resting on the handle when Kuwabara suddenly shouted out at him to stop.

"What is it?" he asked, turning to Kuwabara.

"I dunno, it just all seems really weird and suspicious," Kuwabara replied. "I'm getting a bad feeling, I think there's something really bad in there."

"Then go to the back of the line," Yusuke sarcastically replied.

"We should proceed with caution," Kurama advised.

Yusuke nodded, carefully pulling open the door out wide and peering inside. The door led them to an entranceway, a door ahead of them and a door to their right. Yusuke stepped in ahead of the others, first trying the door directly in front of him, finding it to be locked. He then turned his attention to the door at his side, opening it slightly before stopping short, surprised to hear a series of muffled voices calling out orders.

"What the…?" he muttered, looking back over his shoulder at the others.

Kurama nodded and Yusuke took his gesture to be one of reassurance, and so he opened the door fully and continued along the corridor beyond it. Kurama walked behind him, followed by Hiei and finally Kuwabara, who was still a little apprehensive about being in the vehicle in the first place. All four crept quietly along the corridor, their footsteps light and barely audible against the tin flooring panel. The sound of calling voices still reached them, but the words being spoken were an indecipherable babble, and they were all straining to listen in the hope of making out just a few words.

Yusuke stopped abruptly, causing the others behind him to all halt, Kuwabara responding a second slower than the others and inadvertently walking into Hiei's back, pushing him into Kurama. Hiei glared over his shoulder at Kuwabara, but Kuwabara's eyes were on the reason Yusuke had stopped: someone was standing in the corridor ahead of them, dressed in what looked like a space-suit.

"Hey, you can't come in here!" the figure called out to them, his voice muffled against the transparent plastic shield covering his face. "This is a containment unit, it's too dangerous for you to come in here."

"I'm Yusuke Urameshi," Yusuke called back to him.

"I don't care who you are, nobody comes in here!" the figure answered.

"Damn it!" Yusuke muttered.

"Allow me," Kurama said, stepping past him. "Excuse me, we understand this is a medical transporter, we aren't here to cause aggravation. We're looking for a group of bandits who may have passed this way, any information you or anyone else onboard here can give us would be invaluable."

"This entire vehicle is full of infected bodies," the stranger replied. "There's a virus going around this region, and we're trying to stop it. I can't let you any further in, you might catch it."

"Perhaps if we had some bio-hazard protection suits like yourself?" Kurama tried.

"No can do. Before we can risk taking you into the sterilising room, I need to know you don't already have the virus."

Kurama glanced back at Hiei.

"You might have to wait outside," he said quietly.

Hiei stepped forwards, peering around Yusuke at the suited figure ahead of them.

"Oh, Hiei, I didn't see you there!"

Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara all turned to Hiei, who shrugged indifferently.

"Come with me, I'll take you through sterilisation and get suits for you."

Hiei looked around the others before weaving his way past Yusuke and Kurama to stand in front of them.

"For all of us?" he asked. "You'll get suits for all of us?"

The suited demon paused, one hand hanging in the air.

"They're with me," Hiei added, waving a hand over his shoulder at the others behind him.

"What the hell happened to your voice?" the demon replied.

Hiei cleared his throat awkwardly.

"We encountered wood nymphs on our way here," Kurama said. "Hiei was bitten, he may be a little drowsy."

Hiei turned to Kurama, glowering up at him.

"I already told you that monster didn't hurt me," he whispered angrily.

"I'd rather these people thought you were suffering from the effects of the bite of a wood nymph than the virus they are trying to contain," Kurama whispered back.

"Oh…"

Hiei's anger faded from his features and he turned back to the suited demon ahead of them.

"Take us inside," he called out.

"Sure, follow me."

The medical worker turned around and started back in the direction he had come from and Hiei followed after him. The demon led them to a large, brightly lit pure white room, which was so bright, Hiei lifted an arm up to shield his eyes from the glare as they entered, squinting painfully as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the intrusive light. The others squinted and turned from the glare of the lights too, all taking some time to focus. When their surroundings did eventually become clear to them, Hiei slowly lowered his arm again, looking around the room with increasing levels of alarm: at one end of the room there was an open shower, next to which was a drying unit, followed by a sealed glass cabinet of bio-hazard suits like the one the demon who had collected them was wearing, and at the other end was a table with a bright ring of lights above it and a series of trays of complex and cruel medical tools.

"What is this place?" Kuwabara asked warily.

Yusuke looked back over his shoulder, watching as their guide stepped out of his suit and deposited it into a bin. Underneath his suit he wore a white lab coat with embroidered insignia on his shoulders that marked him as a doctor.

"So… We have to shower before we put a suit on?" Yusuke asked him.

"Not yet," the doctor replied. "First I need to test your blood to make sure you're not already infected."

Kuwabara groaned as Hiei suddenly turned and tried to flee, colliding with Kuwabara in his haste.

"Hiei doesn't like needles," Yusuke told the doctor.

He grabbed a handful of Hiei's cloak and pulled him away from Kuwabara.

"Poor little guy," he said, trying to sound as flippant as possible.

Yusuke waited until the doctor had approached the table and turned his back on them before leaning over Hiei.

"Would you relax?" he hissed under his breath.

"I can't let him test me," Hiei whispered back. "If he tests me, then he'll know."

Yususke glanced at Kurama.

"It's for the best," Kurama whispered. "Maybe they have a cure."

"That would be good," Yusuke said, turning back to Hiei. "Let the doc cure you so we don't have to deal with you being such a freak all the time."

"No, you don't understand, I can't do this!" Hiei pleaded, trying to tug his cloak from Yusuke's grasp.

"Now, who wants to go first?" the doctor asked, turning around with a syringe in one hand.

Yusuke rolled his eyes, releasing Hiei and stepping forwards.

"I'll go first," he offered, holding out one arm. "I know I'm clean. My little friend over there just had the virus, so I know what it does, and there's no way I've got it!"

The doctor froze, his syringe poised in the air over Yusuke's arm.

"What?" Yusuke asked him. "Something I said?"

The doctor slowly lifted his eyes to Yusuke's.

"Your friend has the virus?" he asked.

"He had the virus," Yusuke corrected him. "He's still really slow and weak, but he's getting better."

The doctor straightened up, retracting his hands from Yusuke's arm.

"That's impossible," he said quietly.

"No, it's possible," Yusuke replied. "Hiei's definitely been sick, but now he's all better."

"Firstly, if Hiei does have the virus, then by now, all of the rest of you will be infected," the doctor said solemnly. "And secondly, there's no possible way Hiei could be recovering: the virus is incurable. In every case we've seen, it's caused death within a matter of days or else lingered and slowly wasted the patient away. With the latter, the patient may give the illusion of being recovered after the initial illness, but death is always certain."

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Hiei is not the only one infected, and things start to get even more bizarre. Botan is working hard – but gets inappropriately distracted. Kurama and Hiei have an unusual conversation and Puu's behaviour gets out of hand. **Chapter 5 – Terrence Nightingale**


	5. Terrence Nightingale

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who is reading/reviewing/favouriting. This is a weird!fic, and I make no apologies for it, it was just something I had to do. This fic is like Marmite – either you love it, you hate it, or you're too scared to try it!

Recap: Hiei was impervious to the attack of a band of wood nymphs, Botan continued to scheme to have an adventure and the boys arrived at a medical transporter, where they were told they are all infected with the virus.

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Terrence Nightingale**

"So we're all gonna die?" Kuwabara asked.

"No, we're not gonna die from some stupid virus, because we don't have it!" Yusuke snapped.

"If you've been travelling with an infected party, then there's virtually no chance that you don't have the virus," the doctor said.

"Do your damn test and I'll prove to you I don't have your stupid virus!" Yusuke argued, pushing out his arm again.

The doctor returned to the table, donning a facemask and rubber gloves and then returning to take a blood sample from Yusuke's arm.

"How could you do this to us, Hiei?" Kuwabara asked. "You've killed us all!"

"You're a human, you can't catch it, remember?" Kurama reminded him.

"Humans can catch this virus, though they react slightly differently to it," the doctor called over to him.

"You selfish little bastard, Hiei!" Kuwabara whined. "You took your infection to Genkai's temple! What if you've infected my sister and Keiko and Yukina?"

"You need to stop talking," Hiei quietly answered him.

"Why?" Kuwabara asked. "Because you're too stubborn to admit you got sick?"

"No, because you don't know what you're talking about," Hiei replied.

Kuwabara frowned, unsure how to react: Hiei did not seem aggressive, defensive or even panicked. His tone was alarmingly calm and smooth and the look in his eyes was a confident one, but there was a hint of something sinister there too.

"You've tested positive," the doctor announced.

"What?" Yusuke echoed.

"You're infected," the doctor replied. "You'll need to wait another few minutes for the test to determine how far advanced the virus is."

"But… I don't feel sick at all! Take the test again, you must have made a mistake!"

Yusuke held out his arm again, but the doctor shook his head.

"There is no mistake, you have the virus," he insisted. "Now while we wait to find out how far along the infection has progressed, I think I should test your associates."

Kurama stepped forwards, nodding at Yusuke.

"Are you sure humans can catch it?" Yusuke asked the doctor as he prepared a fresh syringe for Kurama.

"Absolutely, but only if they enter demon world," the doctor replied. "We get humans wandering into this realm all the time, and, sadly, those who have accidentally entered demon world lately have all died before we could even return them to human world."

"They died instantly?" Kuwabara asked.

"Almost," the doctor casually replied, inserting the needle into Kurama's arm. "There was a lot of convulsing and retching and screaming, but death did come rather quickly."

"Well done on getting that information, Kuwabara," Yusuke muttered.

"I only checked living world!" Kuwabara snapped back. "How was I supposed to know people were coming here and dying?"

"I didn't realise the infection was so severe or so widely spread myself," Kurama said. "We've all misjudged the situation, and we should have known better. Look at Hiei."

Hiei flinched and hunched his shoulders defensively as everyone turned to look his way.

"I'm too young to die," Kuwabara moaned.

"You're not gonna die," Yusuke assured him.

"He will if he has the virus," the doctor pointed out.

"Don't listen to him," Yusuke whispered.

"Denial won't help the situation," Kurama warned.

"You've got it too," the doctor said as he disposed of the emptied syringe.

Kurama swallowed carefully, his face flickering.

"We're all gonna die," Kuwabara said again.

"You don't understand," Hiei quietly answered him.

"You don't understand, Hiei!" Kuwabara argued. "You did this to us!"

"You're next," the doctor said, moving towards Kuwabara.

"What's the point?" Kuwabara asked. "We already know we all have it and we're all gonna die!"

"We don't have the virus Kuwabara, it's a mistake," Yusuke insisted. "None of us have been sick."

"None of us sensed or could see through the wood nymphs' ambush," Kurama pointed out, allowing the doctor to take a sample of his blood.

"Hiei could, and he really is sick!" Yusuke said.

"He could see through them because he's getting better," Kuwabara said. "We couldn't because we're getting worse! Hey mister doctor? How long before I start obsessing over pretty soaps and get all skinny like Hiei?"

Kuwabara watched the doctor expectantly, but he appeared to be distracted, holding a test-tube of one of the blood samples he had just obtained up in front of his face.

"Is that mine?" Kuwabara asked. "It is, you took mine last. It's bad news isn't it? Tell it to me straight if it is, doc."

"This is unbelievable," the doctor muttered.

"Don't tell me, I don't wanna know!" Kuwabara wailed, covering his ears with his hands.

"Idiot," Yusuke muttered.

"What have you found?" Kurama asked the doctor. "Is Kuwabara unaffected?"

"No, he tested positive too," the doctor flatly replied.

Kuwabara turned to Hiei, but Hiei was watching Kurama, and did not so much as flinch under Kuwabara's accusatory glare.

"It's you," the doctor said to Yusuke. "You clearly have the virus, but you seem to be immune to it. You haven't been unwell because the virus isn't having any effect on you."

"I'm immune?" Yusuke asked, smiling smugly. "That's because no stupid little cold is enough to slow me down!"

He turned to the others and his smile vanished as he saw the dark look Kuwabara was giving him, the disapproving look Kurama was giving him and a glance at Hiei reminded him that strength had nothing to do with fighting off the effects of the virus.

"You're the first to show any sort of immunity," the doctor added.

"Perhaps the virus is weakening?" Kurama suggested.

The doctor picked up another vial of blood.

"Maybe, because you're immune to it too," he said.

"That's good news," Kurama said. "Perhaps our immunity can help in your search for a cure."

"Your ugly human friend is immune too."

Kuwabara leapt up and punched a fist in the air.

"I knew I wasn't sick!" he said cheerfully. "And I – hey wait, who are you calling ugly?"

"It would be helpful if the two of you would donate blood," the doctor said to Yusuke and Kurama. "Whatever it is in your system that's fighting the virus, it must be in your blood, so if we can take a pint of blood from each of you, we could have enough antibodies to cure everyone on this transporter."

"I'm okay with that," Yusuke agreed.

"As am I, naturally," Kurama added. "There won't be a problem with my body being human?"

"You've got enough demon energy in you, it should be alright," the doctor replied.

"What about me?" Kuwabara asked. "Do you want my blood too?"

"No, you're too human," the doctor replied. "And as for Hiei, he obviously has a very low level of immunity to the virus too, which is why he's still alive. He's no help to us in creating a vaccine, but maybe you should bring him back to me once we've worked out a decent remedy and I can help set him on the road to recovery."

"I don't need anything from you," Hiei told the doctor.

Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"Well if Yusuke and I are to stay here to help the doctor, perhaps you and Kuwabara could talk to the others onboard this transporter?" Kurama suggested to Hiei.

"Right, we just need one of those fancy suits and we're good to go, right?" Kuwabara asked.

"You don't need a suit if you're immune to the virus," the doctor replied.

"Yes, so put your shirt back on," Hiei spat at Kuwabara.

"Relax, Hiei!" Kuwabara sneered, pulling his shirt on again.

"We will do as you asked," Hiei said to Kurama.

"Good luck," Kurama replied. "Hopefully by the time we are finished here, you and Kuwabara will have uncovered some more information about those we seek."

Hiei nodded and turned to the door as Kuwabara opened it.

"Just let me do all the talking," Kuwabara said as he pushed his way out of the room ahead of Hiei. "You're still too weird to talk to anyone… Wait a minute, you were always too weird to talk to anyone… Hm, I guess the virus didn't affect you as badly as we all thought it did…"

"Let's strike a deal then," Hiei said, following Kuwabara along the corridor beyond the room. "You can talk to everyone we meet as much as you want, just stop talking to me."

"Fine by me, mister "I'm too tough to need a vaccine"!"

Kuwabara and Hiei continued on in silence until they reached the patient area of the transporter, where Kuwabara had to do a lot of explaining to the doctors about why they were not in biohazard suits before they were allowed full access to the ward beyond. After the initial kerfuffle, Kuwabara and Hiei were left standing at the top of a room filled with beds of demons in various stages of grave illness.

"Wow, that's pretty bad," Kuwabara commented.

"State the obvious, I enjoy a running commentary on the unnecessary," Hiei sarcastically replied.

"Hey, there's that guy Urameshi fought in the Dark Tournament!"

Kuwabara had taken off before Hiei could question him, and so he simply followed after him, arriving at the bedside of one of the least sickly patients, a tall, tanned demon with a blue Mohawk and a stripe of black face-paint over the bridge of his nose.

"Chu!" Kuwabara greeted him.

"Oh hey there," Chu replied, squinting up at him. "You're Urameshi's mate."

"Yeah, that's right!" Kuwabara agreed. "Urameshi's here too, he's giving blood because he's immune to the virus."

"Immune to the virus?" Chu asked. "Yeah, I reckon it would take a guy like Urameshi to be immune to this. Who's your little mate there?"

Kuwabara stepped to one side, clearing Chu's line of sight to Hiei. Chu broke into a smile and sat up in his bed.

"It feels like it's been weeks since I've seen a decent Sheila, come over here and gimme a hug!"

Hiei tried to move away, but Chu grabbed at his cloak and sat back hard, pulling back on Hiei and causing him to lose his balance. He fell awkwardly against Chu's bed and Chu grabbed an arm around his neck, pulling him closer.

"You smell like that pretty girl who dances at my favourite bar," Chu said, sniffing at Hiei's hair.

"Let me go!" Hiei growled, struggling against his hold.

"Tell Urameshi I said he's a real mate for sending me over such a pretty little lass," Chu said to Kuwabara.

Kuwabara started to laugh quietly and Hiei's struggles became even more desperate.

"You're a feisty little filly, I like you!" Chu said.

Hiei barely managed to ram the heel of his hand into the side of Chu's chin before he connected with a kiss, his lips smacking at empty air mere inches from the tip of Hiei's nose. In the momentary confusion that followed, Hiei finally managed to wriggle free of Chu's hold, falling to the ground at Kuwabara's feet.

"She's a real live one," Chu said to Kuwabara, who was laughing more and more openly with every passing minute.

"That was not funny!" Hiei snapped as he found his feet again.

"That was hilarious!" Kuwabara replied.

Hiei glared at Chu, who blew him a kiss and winked at him.

"He's sick, he doesn't know what he's doing!" Hiei protested as Kuwabara wiped away a tear of mirth.

"He thinks you're a girl!" Kuwabara chuckled.

"I don't care what he thinks!" Hiei yelled.

"He thinks you're a girl, because you're small, and now you're all thin and dainty too!"

"If I was a girl, would you still think what he just did was funny?"

Kuwabara stopped laughing, turning his head to look directly at Hiei.

"What kinda question is that?" he asked.

"The kind of question I already know the answer to," Hiei quietly replied.

"What?"

Hiei shook his head and turned from Kuwabara and Chu.

"Don't go, sweetheart!" Chu called out as he started to walk away.

Kuwabara turned to Chu, who looked almost as sweaty and feverish as Hiei constantly did.

"You should keep your eye on that one," Chu said, attempting to look serious. "She's up to something."

"You're probably right," Kuwabara agreed. "I always did think she was a major bitch."

He turned to see where Hiei had gone off to, but found him standing only a few feet away, looking back at him with a strangely intrigued look on his face. Apparently though it was all part of the virus, Kuwabara concluded as he turned back to look at Chu again, finding him looking equally as off character. And in that moment, Kuwabara was infinitely glad that he would not fall ill too.

* * *

"Here are the books you asked for, Miss Botan."

"Put them down over there."

George carefully placed down the large pile of hefty tomes he had recovered onto the desk Botan was hunched over. The lighting in the back of the spirit world library was quite poor, and he started to suggest to her that she ought to move to a brighter area to do her reading, but she dismissed him before he could finish. He trudged away dejectedly, but Botan failed to notice his misery, her head only lifting as she finished the chapter she had been studying.

"This is getting me nowhere…" she muttered, tilting her head to one side to read the spines of the books George had brought to her.

She had been in the library for most of the day and her head was starting to ache from trying to decode the ancient texts: she had worked through the more modern books first, but had since been forced to resort to the older reference books in search of an answer, and still she had yet to find one. Her original plans of chasing after Yusuke and his team had temporarily been put on hold and instead she was concentrating on finding an answer as to what was wrong with Puu. He was becoming a handful, chasing after her persistently whenever she entered living world, making it almost impossible for her to get any work done, and he was becoming more and more aggressive. The obvious answer was that something was wrong with or that something had happened to Yusuke, but Yusuke seemed alright, and so the problem was obviously with Puu himself.

But no book in spirit world offered any sort of explanation for why a spirit beast would act independently of its master.

Botan had a silent fear that Puu's behaviour was in some way connected with what was happening in spirit world. She hoped that maybe if she could figure out what was wrong with Puu, she could figure out what the SDF were fighting against, and maybe she could do something to help. She wanted to feel useful – because often she felt quite useless, and never more so than when Yusuke had been fighting Sensui and she had been left alone outside of the cave – but she did not know how to convince Koenma that he could trust her with the truth and Yusuke that he could trust her to be an effective assistant. Shizuru had mocked her plans, but Botan had been serious: she was becoming so desperate to get involved that she was willing to go undercover – even if it meant something really extreme like dressing up as one of the officers of the SDF.

She closed the book she had been reading and managed a small, wry smile: dressing up as someone else was a ridiculous thing to do, she told herself silently. Apart from anything else, it was a pointless venture, because Yusuke and others would see through any disguise she donned, and she already knew that she could not keep up the pretence of being someone else for longer than five minutes without saying or doing something stupid.

"Oh well," Botan said through a sigh. "I suppose it's back to the books. Let's see… How about "The Beast Whisperer"?"

She dragged the dusty old book from the top of the pile, letting it fall to the table where it released a cloud of dust. She sneezed and waved a hand in front of her face to clear the air before dragging her sleeve over the cover.

"The Beast Whisperer," she read aloud. "101 ways to woo a beast."

She opened the cover, flipping past the blank preliminary page to the contents pages, where she found an unreasonably explicit colour illustration of a ferry girl and some sort of bull demon.

"Oh my!" she gasped, slamming the cover shut to hide the image again. "Wrong type of beast!"

She slid the book away from herself, but her hands remained on it, an idea slowly forming in her mind. She glanced about herself to be sure that she was alone before sliding the book back over and opening it to the first chapter.

"He does it with better grace, but I do it more natural," she read aloud. "That's the general consensus of how a demon and a spirit give love, but does it always have to be that way?"

* * *

"Don't look so worried," Kurama said, smiling in spite of himself. "This room comes with an en suite, so you'll have no problems bathing tonight, at least."

Hiei looked directly at him, and, to Kurama's surprise, he appeared to blush slightly.

"Hiei? Are you feeling feverish again?"

Kurama reached out towards Hiei and was again surprised that he did not try to move away: apparently he was still too dumbfounded at the situation he found himself in to think to protest, and so Kurama managed to press his hand against Hiei's forehead. At the contact, Hiei's eyes suddenly seemed to find focus and he jerked back, stumbling into the metal ladder behind him; but not before Kurama noticed something strange. He slowly turned his hand over, looking down at it curiously. His little finger was the only part of his hand that had made contact with skin, the rest of his hand having either touched Hiei's bandana or his hair, but even though only his smallest finger had made only the briefest contact with Hiei's forehead, it was still slightly damp with Hiei's sweat.

"How do you feel, Hiei?" Kurama asked, rubbing the pad of his thumb over the wet mark on his little finger.

"Hot," Hiei replied, tugging at his scarf.

"The typical symptoms of a fever are that the sufferer believes himself to be cold, but his skin is hot to the touch," Kurama said slowly.

"I feel really hot," Hiei replied. "All the time."

"But your skin is very cold," Kurama pointed out.

"That's just your opinion," Hiei retaliated, turning his back on Kurama to inspect the beds.

Since most of the day had passed with Kurama and Yusuke donating blood and then joining Kuwabara and Hiei in an attempt to learn more about the band of demons they were looking for, the group had eventually reached the decision that they would accept the doctor's offer to spend the night onboard the transporter, in the staff quarters. They had been assigned two rooms between the four of them, with Yusuke and Kuwabara taking one room and Kurama and Hiei taking the other. Kuwabara had insisted that he needed a big bed, and so he and Yusuke had taken the room with two single beds in it, leaving Kurama and Hiei to take the room with bunk beds built into one wall.

"Do you want to go on top?"

Hiei spun around to look at Kurama, his face even paler than before.

"I thought you might prefer to be on top," Kurama explained.

"Wh-why?" Hiei asked, colour returning to his face and once making him appear to blush.

"Because you like to sleep in trees and other high places," Kurama replied. "And there isn't much room between the top bunk and the roof, and you're smaller than I am, so it makes more sense for you to go on top and for me to stay on the bottom."

"Are you teasing me?" Hiei asked, his voice a faint whisper, as though he was not really sure of the validity of what he was asking.

"Do you need help to get on top?" Kurama asked.

Hiei rapidly shook his head.

"You don't have to be proud, it's just the two of us now," Kurama reminded him.

"N-no, I'm fine," Hiei replied, his voice back up to normal volume. "I'll sleep up here, and you sleep… Down there…"

He turned and hurriedly scrambled up the ladder to the top bunk, shuffling around on the bed until he was kneeling low facing out towards where Kurama was still standing.

"I'll use the bathroom first then, if you don't mind," Kurama said. "And once we're both done, we should take this opportunity to wash our clothes–"

"I'm not taking my clothes off."

Kurama frowned slightly and Hiei shuffled slightly further back on his bed.

"Your clothing is stained with dirt and blood after what we went through today," Kurama pointed out. "There's not really much point in cleaning your body and not your clothes. And, as you are still ill, your immune system will be weak and vulnerable, so it's just as important for you to avoid infection as it is for us."

"I'm fine, viruses have no effect on me," Hiei replied.

Kurama started to remind Hiei that, in fact, a virus had just had a huge effect on him, but stopped short when he noticed the stubborn and slightly snotty look on Hiei's face that clearly showed he was not prepared to listen to any counter-argument.

"I'll let you get settled here then," he said instead, before spinning on his heels and moving towards the small shower room.

As he closed the door behind him, Kurama caught a glimpse of Hiei sitting forwards watching him. Once the door was closed and he was sure that Hiei could no longer see him, Kurama allowed himself a small smile: he had not seen Hiei look at him that way since the early days of their acquaintance. The first time he had met Hiei had been when he had attacked him, thinking that he was the demon rumoured to have eaten an ice maiden, and, after collapsing from injuries he had been too proud to admit to suffering from – much like how he was now pretending that the virus was not causing him any problems – Hiei had been at Kurama's mercy. After an initial hostility, Hiei had eventually conceded to team up with Kurama, and together they had destroyed the demon who had been eating young women. It had been a temporary agreement between them, and when they had completed their task, Kurama had not expected to see Hiei again until the end of his human life and his eventual return to demon world.

But, to his surprise, Hiei had lingered in human world. Over the weeks that followed their initial meeting and collaboration, Kurama saw flashes of black and white in the treetops as he walked to school, he frequently caught the scent of ashes and metal in the air and sometimes he had even heard Hiei's slightly clumsy attempts to hide on rooftops above where he was studying or sleeping. Kurama had never asked Hiei about those times. Hiei had, after some weeks of moderate and somewhat unsubtle stalking, eventually shown himself to Kurama and asked him to join him in some minor criminal activities, but neither of them ever spoke about the period of time where Hiei had simply been studying Kurama in what he had obviously thought was a concealed and secretive manner. Sometimes Kurama had managed to catch brief glimpses of Hiei's face watching him back then, usually when he passed a reflective shop window or pond, and although his view of Hiei had been brief and often distorted, the look on Hiei's face had always been the same: it was the same look Hiei seemed to be giving him again now, after a long acquaintance where he had seemed to have outgrown that gesture.

It was an apprehensive and curious look. It was curiosity from questions he was too proud to ask, curiosity about how powerful Kurama might actually be behind his façade of pacifism, curiosity about whether or not he could trust Kurama and curiosity about something else that Kurama had never quite figured out.

As he showered, Kurama wondered if now was a good time to ask Hiei what he had been thinking all those times he had been watching him from the shadows. Hiei was clearly not himself, and although he was still quite hostile, he seemed less likely to be offended or else turn his weapon on Kurama for asking a personal question.

Maybe now would be an ideal opportunity to explore a lot of the unspoken matters that the two of them had been through together.

Kurama stepped out of the shower, loosely wrapping a towel around his waist and then opening the door to the bedroom again, waiting for the steam to dissipate to pick out where exactly Hiei was. He felt his face twist as he finally located Hiei knelt by the door, in the process of dismantling the air duct. Kurama quietly moved into the middle of the room, watching patiently as Hiei successfully removed the grating and then flattened himself to the ground to peer inside the duct beyond. He reached a hand inside it and tapped at it a few times before eventually sitting back onto his heels.

"What are you doing?" Kurama asked.

Hiei gasped and hurriedly pushed the grating back on, frantically screwing it back into place.

"I thought there was something in there," he said awkwardly.

"Like what?" Kurama asked. "Something valuable, like a jewel perhaps?"

"Yes, I suppose."

"Let me have a look."

Kurama walked over and knelt down beside Hiei, who finally turned towards him, letting out a short, muted yelp as his eyes landed on Kurama's still-wet and semi-naked body.

"Maybe I can get it out," Kurama offered, assuming the panicked look on Hiei's face was somehow related to his inability to recover whatever it was he had sighted in the air duct.

"No, no, I don't think so," Hiei replied, shaking his head.

"I can try," Kurama offered. "My arms are longer than yours, or maybe I could send a plant in there…"

He leaned forwards to look through the grating and behind him he heard Hiei draw in a shuddering breath.

"It ran away."

Kurama moved his eyes to Hiei's distorted reflection on the top of the frame of the grating.

"The jewel?" he asked.

"I think it ran away already," Hiei replied, scrambling backwards.

Kurama straightened up again, turning to watch as Hiei awkwardly got to his feet.

"The jewel ran away?" Kurama asked.

"I heard its feet moving," Hiei replied. "That was how I knew it was in there in the first place."

Kurama peered into the air duct again, and he heard Hiei sprint across the room behind him, turning his head in time to see the bathroom door slam shut.

"It's going to be a long night…" Kurama muttered to himself, standing up again.

Some time later, after drying himself off and donning a pair of pyjama bottoms he found in a linen cupboard in the room and then poring over a map of the interior of the transporter, Kurama heard the bathroom door click, and before it had fully opened he was hit by a smell so overpowering it suggested that Hiei had used the entire supply of bathing oils and shampoos that had been provided in the little shower room. Wincing slightly against the excessive scent, Kurama turned towards the bathroom door to watch as Hiei stepped out. Apparently he had had the same idea as Kurama, as he was dressed in a pyjama set he must have found in the linen cupboard too – only the outfit was ridiculously big on Hiei, and, even with the legs and sleeves rolled up at the ends, his hands and feet were still hidden from view.

"I found a plan of this vehicle," Kurama offered, standing up from his bed and holding up the plan to indicate his point. "According to this there is a navigation and communications room, I think we should try to get access to that tomorrow morning, we can call some of our friends in other parts of demon world to get a better idea of how widely spread this virus is and perhaps even ask if any of them have seen any signs of suspicious activities."

Hiei nodded and walked quickly around the edge of the room, giving Kurama a ridiculously wide berth before darting towards the bed and scurrying up the ladder to his own bunk, where he quickly wrapped a blanket around himself.

"But I suppose it has been a long day, and we should probably get some sleep," Kurama said, eying Hiei over suspiciously.

Hiei nodded again and lay down, gathering more of his bedding about himself until he had transformed into an amorphous mound of fabric with a small, pale face sticking out.

"Well good night then," Kurama said, replacing the plan to the shelf he had taken it from and switching out the light.

He made his way back over to his bed, the room looking slightly eerie as there were small strip lights in the floor that led towards the exit, and their soft blue light was creating exaggerated shadows on the walls around them. Kurama lay down on his back and pulled a single blanket over himself, closing his eyes and hoping that this night he would at least sleep better than he had done the night before: although the ridiculously floral smell of Hiei's over-pampered form lying above him was something of a distraction.

And, just as he had finally managed to suppress his urge to sneeze, Kurama became distinctly aware that he was being watched. He opened his eyes and smiled when he saw Hiei's head hanging down at the side of his bed, watching him with large, worried eyes.

"Is everything alright?" Kurama asked him.

"I've been thinking," Hiei replied.

"That's a dangerous past-time," Kurama said.

He smiled, but Hiei's face remained unchanged, apparently oblivious to his attempt at humour. Kurama sighed quietly and pushed himself up onto his elbows, his blanket sliding down his chest. Hiei's eyes widened slightly and he shot out of sight again. Kurama frowned, rolling his eyes upwards to the underside of Hiei's bed.

"I need to ask you something," Hiei said suddenly.

Kurama turned his head, finding Hiei leaning over the back of his bed. He shuffled around to lie on his front, resting his chin on his pillow and looking up at him.

"I think you should go back to Mukuro and get back into a healing chamber," he said. "Does that answer your question?"

"You don't know what I'm thinking," Hiei quietly replied.

"Is that what you wanted to ask?"

"No. It's about what you said to me this morning at breakfast."

Kurama looked down at the floor as he tried to remember anything about breakfast at all. He had been so distracted by the smell of the ice village flowers, he had been thinking of little else, and the memory of that made him strangely glad that Hiei had used too much shampoo that night – perhaps he had even done it deliberately in an attempt to wash out and mask over any remaining smell of those damn flowers.

"What you said about Yukina and Kuwabara," Hiei added when Kurama did not answer him. "I wanted to ask what you meant."

Kurama looked up at Hiei again, trying his best to look apologetic.

"I don't really remember what I said, I'm sorry," he offered.

"Oh…" Hiei said, looking briefly irritated by his response. "Well, you said Yukina doesn't return Kuwabara's feelings. I just wondered how you would know that for sure."

"I can tell she doesn't return his affection, it's obvious," Kurama replied. "She smiles and humours his attentions and she's polite and welcoming enough, but there's no depth of feeling there. I'll concede that she perhaps feels more strongly about Kuwabara than she does about anyone else, but at the end of the day, she's still an ice maiden, and they are a race of unfeeling creatures."

Kurama smiled.

"Why am I telling you this?" he asked. "You know better than anyone how emotionless and cold the ice maidens are."

"That's not true," Hiei quietly replied. "Yukina isn't unfeeling."

Kurama started to feel confused. He had been certain that Hiei shared his opinion on this particular matter, though as he could not really recall having ever openly discussed it with him, he supposed he could have been wrong.

"She's pleasant enough," he said. "But she is shallow."

Hiei's eyes started to glow and it was clear from their shape that he was sneering.

"I thought that would please you," Kurama said. "This way she won't ever take a lover, and you certainly wouldn't want that for her, lest she birth a child as temperamental as you."

Kurama smiled at Hiei, expecting his friend to insult him back and pretend to sulk; but instead he looked strangely pensive, a look that was clear even though the light levels in the room were very low.

"Life in human world is lonely for Yukina," he said.

"She doesn't seem to mind being alone," Kurama replied.

"She feels lonely sometimes."

"Are you sure? Are you sure you're not just imagining it? Are you sure it's not more a case of your concern for her solitude bothering your conscience than actual feeling on her part?"

"Yukina does feel things, Kurama. She was devastated when Genkai died."

"We all were."

Hiei sighed and slowly moved back up out of Kurama's line of sight. Kurama leaned forwards over the top end of his bunk, looking up to see it Hiei was still at all visible, seeing one last flick of black hair as he lay down onto his bed again. Kurama copied Hiei's actions and lay back down in his own bed, closing his eyes as he assumed that the conversation was over and that Hiei intended to sleep then.

"You're very old."

Kurama's eyes snapped open, staring up at the underside of Hiei's bunk.

"Sometimes I think about how long you've lived, and all the things you must have seen and done," Hiei continued. "Sometimes it overwhelms me. My life seems small and lacking in comparison."

"It's unfair to compare experience and time between my life and yours," Kurama assured him. "I've lived a lot longer than you have. Let's have this conversation again next century, it will be a fairer comparison by then."

"I'd like that."

Kurama closed his eyes again, though he remained tense for some time, concentrating on listening to the rhythm of Hiei's breathing, listening for the moment he fell asleep, as he was not entirely sure that Hiei would not suddenly start talking again. Eventually he heard Hiei's breathing become slow and shallow, and Kurama was able to relax, quickly slipping into a deep slumber too.

* * *

Keiko looked at her watch: she still had half an hour until her first class of the day started, and she was at a loose end. She had not slept for worrying about Yusuke and so had gotten up early and gone to the library in the hope of getting some reading done – but that had proved a hopeless venture too, as her eyes had kept wandering to the nearest window, her mind expecting to find Yusuke there, even though he had never randomly visited her on campus before ten in the morning. She desperately needed a distraction, because she was reaching the point where her concern was making her feel physically sick.

Keiko screamed and stumbled to a halt as she suddenly noticed someone standing blocking her path. It was not so much that someone was blocking her path or even who it was that had startled her, rather it was the physical state of the person she was looking at.

"We have to do something, Keiko," Botan said, before spitting out a blue feather.

"What happened to you, Botan?" Keiko asked.

Botan was standing – barely – with her oar in one hand and her pink kimono hanging very loosely about her. Her hair had mostly fallen out of its ties, she had a smear of mud up one side of her face, her clothes were torn, her oar was chipped and cracked and she was missing a sandal.

"I don't want you to be alarmed Keiko, but I think there may be a small problem with Puu," Botan eventually replied.

"Puu did this to you?" Keiko asked.

"Yes," Botan answered. "He's been a little… Ferocious since the boys left for their mission."

"Yusuke must be in trouble," Keiko said. "Call him and ask him what's happening!"

Botan nodded, reaching into the loose and ragged remains of her kimono. Her notebook fell to the ground, the cover slightly torn, the Mystic Whistle fell from one sleeve and the chewed remains of some Mejiru Shiiru labels frittered downwards from the other sleeve.

"Oh dear, Puu's destroyed some of your special items!" Keiko said.

"He swallowed the Concentration Ring," Botan groaned. "Lord Koenma said I have to get it back when it comes out the other end…"

"Ew…."

"Still, it could have been worse."

"How?"

"He could have gotten the Mystic Whistle caught in his throat, and then every time he breathed out it would have sounded. Can you imagine that?"

"Well I'm glad you're putting a brave face on all of this."

"Bingo!"

Botan smiled as she recovered her slightly dented communication mirror and Keiko moved over to join her as she flipped it open to call Yusuke. After a short pause Yusuke appeared in front of them, grinning obnoxiously.

"Yusuke?" Keiko said, tilting her head in confusion.

"Hey Keiko, Botan," he replied. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much…" Botan dryly replied.

"That hairstyle doesn't suit you, Botan," Yusuke added.

Botan started to correct him but stopped when she realised that Kuwabara and Kurama were laughing behind him.

"Well it's nice to know you're really taking this mission seriously, boys!" she snapped.

"Oh, no, you don't understand," Yusuke replied. "Yesterday, we met Chu, and he thought Hiei was a girl, so now we're calling Hiei Hime instead of Hiei, and he's getting really, really pissed off about it."

"Sounds fun," Botan said flatly.

"So you're okay?" Keiko asked, leaning closer to the communicator.

"Yeah, I'm great," Yusuke replied. "Turns out I'm too strong for that virus that's going around demon world. The doctor here is making a cure using my super-powered genes."

"Antibodies," Botan corrected him.

"Call them what you will, my tough virus-fighting skills are saving lives! I'm like that dude version of Florence Nightingale!"

"There was no "dude version" of Florence Nightingale, Yusuke," Keiko pointed out.

"Sure there was," Yusuke said. "Terrence Nightingale, wasn't it?"

Botan and Keiko exchanged exasperated looks, but Yusuke was too distracted by the hilarity behind him to notice their pains.

"I gotta go," he said. "Was there a reason you called?"

"Your spirit beast has gone wild," Botan replied.

"Did you remember to feed him?" Yusuke asked.

Botan sighed.

"Okay, see ya!"

"Yusuke–!"

The link terminated before Botan could yell at Yusuke for being so flippant, and so she angrily snapped shut her communicator and stuffed it back into her kimono.

"Maybe Puu is just hungry," Keiko said. "He flew into the city for no real reason yesterday, maybe it was desperation because he's hungry!"

"That can't be right, because Yukina feeds him, changes his water and grooms him twice a day!" Botan pointed out.

"Well maybe you should ask Yukina if she knows why he's acting out," Keiko suggested.

"Well shouldn't you know the answer to that, Keiko?" Botan asked, rolling her eyes impatiently.

"Me? Why would I know whether or not Yukina's been feeding Puu?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because Yukina is living with you?"

"Yukina's not living with me."

"Well, no, not you exactly, but she's staying with your parents, isn't she?"

"No!"

"Oh… Oh, now I remember! Yukina is staying with the Kuwabara family!"

"Really? Oh my, poor Kuwabara! He'll be devastated that he's stuck on some dangerous mission while Yukina is sleeping over at his house!"

"I know, it's hilarious, isn't it? I'll talk to Shizuru. Maybe she hasn't been able to take Yukina up to the temple, it is quite a journey to make every day."

"Okay, well, good luck Botan. And if you need anything, let me know, okay?"

"I still think my costume idea was a splendid one. You, me and Shizuru could have all gone, you know."

Keiko shook her head.

"It was a bad idea Botan," she said gently. "A really, really bad idea."

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Yusuke and Kuwabara torment Hiei with their new nickname for him and when Yusuke and Hiei run into trouble, Yusuke sees Hiei do a few things that don't seem to make any sense. Meanwhile, Yukina continues to elude Botan. **Chapter 6 – There Next**


	6. There Next

**A/N:** Did I remember to put a note about Hime? Probably not… It's Japanese for "Princess". Although I usually avoid non-English words, this one was too good to resist (it's pronounced the same as Hiei, but with a "m" sound between the two vowel sounds).

 **Recap:** Everyone is infected! But Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara are (conveniently) immune to the virus. A sick Chuu mistook Hiei for a girl (silly Chuu!), Yusuke and Kuwabara came up with a new nickname for Hiei, Botan read a kinky book in spirit world when she was meant to be researching Puu's behaviour and Hiei and Kurama slept together… You saw that right?

* * *

 **Chapter 6: There Next**

"Hey Hime – I mean Hiei – did you remember to pack your purse and your perfume before we left?"

Kuwabara laughed at Yusuke's joke but Kurama forced himself to keep a straight face.

"Chu was very sick, Hiei," he said to Hiei, who looked about ready to fry them all in a blaze of black flames. "And if it's any consolation, people mistake me for a woman all the time."

"I don't understand why they have to call me Hime," Hiei grumbled.

"Because it sounds like Hiei, and it's funny!" Kuwabara answered him.

Kurama smiled sympathetically at Hiei.

"We found out some useful information over breakfast this morning," he said. "The doctors told us they are stationed here because the area up ahead is being guarded to stop infected demons entering. Nobody beyond that point is sick, and if anyone there shows any signs of sickness, they send them to this transporter, which is acting as a mini-hospital. That means the problem is back the way we came, so it at least narrows down our search."

"Yeah, that's right," Yusuke agreed. "So with any luck, we'll find the breach today and we can get you back to your palace by sundown, Hime."

"Hey Hime, how's the dragon in your castle?" Kuwabara asked.

"Hime, have you got a date for the ball yet?" Yusuke asked.

"If you don't have a date yet Hime, Chu said he'd take you!" Kuwabara added.

Yusuke and Kuwabara fell against each other laughing and Hiei started to reach for his sword, but Kurama quickly stepped in front of him, blocking his way forward.

"It's just a little bit of fun, Hiei," he said.

"I don't like it," Hiei replied.

"That's part of what makes it fun for them," Kurama reminded him.

"Come on Hime, put your glass slippers on and let's go," Yusuke said.

Hiei bared his teeth in an angered sneer, his eyes watching Yusuke and Kuwabara as they passed him. Kurama started after them, waving a hand in front of Hiei's face.

"Come on," he said. "The sooner we go, the sooner this mission will be over with. You want this mission to end quickly, don't you?"

Hiei's sneer vanished, his face once more taking on that bewildered look of childlike wonder he seemed to be wearing a lot since contacting the virus.

"What will we do once this mission is over?" he asked, hurrying over to join Kurama.

"We can go back to normality," Kurama casually replied. "Which for me is study and work and for you is a healing chamber for at least a week – you know I really do wish you would have let the doctor give you the antidote."

"He said he hadn't perfected it yet," Hiei replied.

"But it might have helped. Are you enjoying being this poorly?"

"I'm not poorly, Kurama."

"Okay, well, we can talk more about that after we finish the mission."

"We can talk after we finish the mission?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Hiei's agreeableness seemed a little suspicious to Kurama, but a lot of what Hiei had been saying and doing lately seemed suspicious, and so Kurama dismissed the thought. He hoped that it was all just because Hiei was still sick – according to Kuwabara, Chu had been acting just as oddly as Hiei, so strange behaviour was obviously a side effect of the illness – but Hiei's refusal of treatment was a little more difficult to dismiss. Hiei was, of course, very proud and as such he hated to admit that he might have any sort of weakness, but even for Hiei, refusing treatment for a virus was excessively obstinate.

Kurama just hoped that Hiei's stubborn pride would not end up proving to be his downfall.

"Hurry up Hime, I've got exams to get back to!" Kuwabara called back to Hiei.

"You're just taking advantage of the fact that he can't fight back to lay into him, Kuwabara," Yusuke pointed out.

"You're doing the exact same thing!" Kuwabara argued back.

"Not really, because I would say those things to his face even if he wasn't sick," Yusuke replied. "And I would like it if he fought back."

"I think we should go now," Kurama said, stepping between them.

"Right, let's split up," Yusuke said. "That way we can do this twice as fast. To be fair, you should go with Kuwabara today Kurama, and I'll take over guarding Hime."

"I don't need to be guarded," Hiei growled.

"That's probably a good idea Yusuke," Kurama said, ignoring the horrified look he earned himself from Hiei. "It's not advisable for Hiei to get involved in any close combat situations again, and there is a good chance we could run into trouble as we near our goal. With your longer range attacks, you're the best placed of the three of us to keep conflict away from him."

"If he's really that useless, can't we just send him back to a vet or something?" Kuwabara muttered.

"I'm not useless!" Hiei snapped.

"Go with Yusuke, Hiei," Kurama said to him. "We'll each move out parallel to the border up ahead until we find something."

"Right," Yusuke agreed. "Come on Hime, you better walk ahead of me so I can carry your veil for you."

"Veils are worn over the head," Hiei answered him. "Servants hold up trains, which are part of the dress, not veils."

"Well I guess you would know more about these things than me, Hime."

Hiei turned to Kurama, who offered him a small, reassuring smile before turning away from him and starting to leave with Kuwabara. Hiei watched Kurama go until he was out of sight before turning to Yusuke, his eyes doubling in size as he found the mazoku standing on the spot with a finger rammed up one of his nostrils.

"What are you doing?" Hiei asked him.

"What does it look like?" Yusuke casually replied. "I've got one of those stringy ones that gets stuck right up over that little ridge where your nose meets your brain, and it's pissing me off, I've gotta get it out."

"I never thought it would be like this."

Yusuke's finger halted and his eyes slowly moved to Hiei.

"Is it even safe for you to put your firing finger inside of yourself?" Hiei asked as their eyes met.

"Don't say it like that!" Yusuke yelped. "I'm not putting my finger inside myself!"

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not!"

"You could fire off and injure yourself."

"Stop talking!"

"Alright."

Yusuke screwed up his face and slowly retracted his finger, looking down at it to admire what he had dug out from the depths of his nostril.

"It's no fun when you're judging me and being weird…" he complained before wiping his hand on his vest.

"You spread germs that way," Hiei pointed out.

"I don't have germs, I'm super-immune," Yusuke reminded him.

"You do have the germs, you can still infect someone else. Just because you have been saved from illness, doesn't mean you can't still cause great harm to another."

Yusuke and Hiei stood staring at each other for a long time, the silence growing almost uncomfortable. Eventually the moment ended when Yusuke turned away and started to walk, and, a few seconds later, Hiei began to follow him.

* * *

"I'll have a pint of beer with one of those sweet cherries on a stick. And an umbrella. And some ice. And a slice of lemon."

Shizuru leaned forwards, resting her elbows on the bar to bring herself closer to Botan, who was sitting on a bar stool facing her.

"Cocktail cherries, umbrellas, ice and lemon slices are served with cocktails," she explained.

"But I don't want a cocktail," Botan replied. "I want a beer, and I like all those decorations."

Shizuru leaned back again, opening one of the small fridges under the bar. She retrieved a can of beer and then collected a clean glass from the drying rack, placing each down in front of Botan. Botan pouted a little but found her smile again when Shizuru placed a bowl of cherries, a bowl of lemon slices, a bucket of ice and a stand filled with colourful plastic novelty drink decorations on the bar.

"Knock yourself out," she said.

"Oh goody, this is so exciting!" Botan said, cracking open her can.

"Is this a social call, a business call or are you just here for the free drink?" Shizuru asked.

"Oh all three I suppose," Botan replied, as oblivious as ever to Shizuru's sarcasm. "I came to show you this super new top I got, I came to tell you I still have absolutely no idea what the boys are up to and I wanted the drink to calm me down after spending the morning escaping Puu again."

Shizuru nodded slowly.

"Why is Puu acting that way?" she asked. "What's wrong with Yusuke?"

"Oh nothing, he seems quite radiant."

Shizuru frowned as Botan dropped a small handful of cocktail cherries into her beer.

"The problem isn't Yusuke, it's Puu. Yusuke thought that maybe he was hungry."

"So why don't you just feed him?"

Botan shrugged, squeezing the juice from two lemon slices into her beer.

"Yukina usually looks after him," she said.

"So what's the problem?" Shizuru asked.

"Well I suppose since Yukina left the temple, she hasn't been able to spend so much time with him, and now he's angry?"

"Is that how spirit beast's work? I thought he only felt things that Yusuke did?"

"Oh, I don't know."

Botan finished arranging an umbrella, a cocktail stirrer and two curly straws in her glass before lifting it to her lips and sipping at it cautiously, squinting as the straws threatened to poke her in the eye.

"Anyway, I thought maybe I should take Yukina up to the temple to visit Puu," she said as she lowered her glass again. "Maybe she'll have a calming influence on him."

"Right, that sounds like a great idea," Shizuru agreed. "You should do that. Instead of coming here, taking free drinks from me and consuming them in a way that scares off customers, you should go and take Yukina to see Puu."

"Alright then," Botan agreed.

Botan and Shizuru watched each other expectantly for several seconds before both slowly started to sense that they had missed something.

"Finish your drink and then go," Shizuru suggested.

"Yes," Botan replied, taking another precarious sip. "Will you come with me, or can I just go directly to your house for her?"

"Do what?" Shizuru echoed.

"Yukina," Botan said. "Do you want to come with me when I collect her, or should I just go myself?"

"I'm working, I can't come with you right now."

"So does Yukina have a key to lock the house when she leaves?"

"What are you talking about? Aren't Mister and Missus Yukimura there right now?"

"Keiko's parents live in your house?"

Botan and Shizuru again stared at each other in varying degrees of confusion, only coming to their senses when the umbrella fell out of Botan's glass, spraying her with cherry and lemon-infused beer. She yelped involuntarily and hurriedly replaced the umbrella and finally realised that Shizuru was waiting for her to say something.

"Yukina is staying at your house, yes?" she said.

"No," Shizuru replied. "You know she's not, you were there two nights ago!"

"Oh… But I thought she was staying with you, in Kuwabara's old room while he is away on the mission?"

"No. Don't you remember? We agreed that she would stay with Keiko's parents, since Keiko's old room is free now that she's staying on campus."

"Oh! Oh well that explains why I couldn't find her living with Keiko or with you!"

Shizuru sighed and leaned forwards again, resting her elbows onto the bar once more.

"I'm worried too, Botan," she said gently. "I'm worried about my idiot brother getting hurt and I'm worried about whatever they're fighting against coming to human world, but we just have to trust them."

"Yes, I know," Botan agreed. "I do trust them, I just hate being left behind all the time and forgotten about when an adventure starts."

"I wouldn't really call what they're doing an "adventure"," Shizuru replied, cocking a half smile. "It's dangerous and violent and frightening. And probably kinda gross too: four boys on the road with no toilet conveniently close by or a decent bed to sleep in… No thanks, that's not the life for me!"

"Oh, me neither, I suppose," Botan agreed. "But I do still worry about Yusuke and Kuwabara."

"Well you shouldn't. They've got Kurama and Hiei with them, right? And those two are smart, and they know how things work in demon world, so just relax. They'll be back before you know it."

"I hope so."

"And if not, maybe we could go with your plan B, and you, me and Keiko could all dress up as soldiers and launch an attack on demon world."

Botan laughed out loud, almost choking on her drink in the process.

"Oh dear, can you imagine us girls dressing up and fighting demons?" she said.

"Worst idea ever," Shizuru said.

"It really was a ridiculous thought," Botan agreed. "But I wasn't thinking clearly. I probably wouldn't have gone through with it."

"You'd have to be mad to think you get away with a plan like that."

* * *

Yusuke cried out a curse, and grabbed Hiei's cloak, falling back down behind a rock and dragging Hiei with him. Hiei fell helplessly at Yusuke's feet, stuck there as Yusuke kept hold of his clothing.

"Stay down, we're under attack," Yusuke warned him before letting go.

"How do you know?" Hiei asked, carefully moving himself around onto all fours, being sure to keep himself hidden behind the rock.

"Oh, just a small thing…" Yusuke replied, waving a hand at his leg.

Hiei gasped as he noticed the arrow embedded in Yusuke's left thigh.

"Where did that come from?" he asked.

"I'm not really sure," Yusuke replied. "But I have to get it out."

He grabbed the end of the arrow in both hands and started to pull, cursing again as the arrowhead tore at the flesh in his leg.

"Don't pull it!" Hiei cried. "It will tear open a much wider wound if you pull it back out!"

"Well, genius, how else do you suggest I get it out?" Yusuke asked through tightly clenched teeth.

"I-I don't know," Hiei replied. "I've never removed an arrow from a living creature before. Usually they're already dead when I find them."

Yusuke growled, his hands gripping at his thigh on either side of the arrow.

"I think it needs to be cut out," Hiei suggested. "We should go back to the doctors in the medical transporter."

"What a great idea!" Yusuke said sarcastically. "Gee, why didn't I think of that? What a totally flawless plan! Except, wait a minute, we can't do that, because we're under attack!"

Yusuke reached for the arrow again but stopped as Hiei caught his hands midair.

"Wait, I think I have an idea!" Hiei said.

"A better idea than us walking back out into the firing range and looking for a doctor?" Yusuke drawled sarcastically.

"Yes!"

Yusuke pulled a face at Hiei, but lost his train of thought when Hiei grabbed the arrow and snapped off the tail, the movement grinding the arrowhead around inside his leg. He hissed and clenched his teeth and held in another curse, at first allowing himself to roll onto his side as Hiei's hands tugged and pushed at him to manoeuvre him into that position.

"Okay hold still, this might hurt a little bit."

"What?"

Yusuke looked up in time to see Hiei swinging his arms down, his hands barely holding onto a large rock. By the time he realised what Hiei was doing, the rock had already collided with the broken arrow shaft, driving the arrow deeper into his leg. Yusuke cried out in spite of himself, grabbing at his thigh as the arrowhead burst out the back of his leg.

"It worked!"

Yusuke lifted his eyes to Hiei, who was looking inappropriately pleased with himself.

"Though it didn't work very well…" Hiei muttered. "There's not really enough arrowhead through for me to get a hold of…"

He lifted up the rock but Yusuke smacked it from his hand before he could bring it down onto the splintered end of the arrow again.

"It's the best way to remove it," Hiei told him.

Yusuke called Hiei the most insulting string of names he could think of, using the most offensive of curse words he could imagine.

"What's a cack-sacker?"

Yusuke gritted his teeth and raised his wound thigh from the ground, shuffling himself around into a sitting position.

"Try replacing the "A"s with "O"s," he snarled.

"A cock-socker?" Hiei tried.

"Hiei, when this mission is over, I am gonna beat you so bad, you're gonna have to crawl home to Mukuro and beg her to put you in another healing chamber," Yusuke warned him.

"Are you angry because I pushed the arrow in deeper?" Hiei asked.

Yusuke moved around onto his knees, facing the rock they were hiding behind.

"I suppose it maybe wasn't the best idea," Hiei said. "I might have punctured a major artery…"

Yusuke growled again before shifting all of his weight onto his right knee to lift up his left knee from the ground.

"What are you doing now?" Hiei asked.

Yusuke ignored his question, instead moving his leg back as far as he could and then slamming it into the rock, driving the arrow further through his leg. He winced and held in another curse, waiting until he was sure that he was not going to whimper in pain before looking over his shoulder at Hiei.

"Pull it out," he ordered.

"Oh, of course!" Hiei said, leaping towards him.

Yusuke gripped at the rock, which crumbled under the strength of his fingers, and again he held in a cry of pain as Hiei grabbed the arrowhead and pulled the arrow straight out of his leg. Once the arrow was out, Yusuke let himself fall down onto his back until he had caught his breath and stopped sweating, at which point he opened his eyes to find Hiei knelt over him holding his injured leg.

"Hiei?" he said in a low voice. "Get off of me right now, or we're using that plan Kurama had before about one of us being a target for those arrows, and it's not going to be me."

"Just stay still a little longer," Hiei replied.

"Get off me, Hiei!"

Yusuke lifted up his free leg and kicked Hiei off of him, gaining a small measure of satisfaction from the pitiful noise Hiei made as he rolled over, huddling his arms over the point at one side of his chest where Yusuke's heel had made contact. He then carefully stood up, being sure to rest most of his weight on his right foot. He avoided looking down at what lay beyond the rip in his pants, already knowing that seeing a gaping injury would only distract him from what he had to do next.

"Stay here, you're no use for this next part anyway," he said, stepping over Hiei's bunched over form.

"No!" Hiei yelled.

Yusuke yelped as Hiei tugged at the ankle of his injured leg, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground a little ahead of where Hiei was still knelt. He lifted his face from the dirt and started to curse at Hiei again, but stopped as one of Hiei's arms shot over his head and he saw a faint glow of something, followed by two more arrows dropping to the ground in front of him.

"Idiot, they can see us now!" Hiei said, standing up and grabbing Yusuke's arm, dragging him up.

"How the hell did you do that?" Yusuke asked, pointing down at the blunted arrows lying in a seemingly harmless cross on the ground.

"Keep moving, you fool!" Hiei shouted at him, pulling him on.

Yusuke stumbled after him, regaining his senses as another arrow thumped into the ground just ahead of Hiei's foot. He looked about for the source of the arrows, catching two flashes of movement on either side of them amongst the sparsely placed trees.

"We need cover," he said.

"We had cover before you decided to jump up and show them where you were!" Hiei snapped back.

"This way."

Yusuke grabbed Hiei's arm and turned abruptly, pulling him towards a nearby pool.

"I don't want to go in there–" Hiei began.

"Tough!" Yusuke shouted back, launching himself into the air and yanking Hiei along with him.

They hit the water a little awkwardly thanks to Hiei trying to pull back as Yusuke hoisted him forwards, breaking the surface harshly enough to create a burning feeling in Yusuke's legs – though that was probably also a side effect of having a wound in his leg, he told himself. Hiei immediately tried to swim back to the surface and Yusuke had to grab at his clothes and drag him back under, holding him beneath the water until he saw their attackers moving in the trees near the water's edge. He then started to edge back up, releasing Hiei to aim his finger at one of their attackers, hoping to catch one before he broke the water's surface and get the second immediately after.

Yusuke fired a shot upwards and poked his head out of the water, snarling a curse when his shot missed his intended target. He took aim again, but again he missed as he was forced to forfeit his shot when an arrow dropped into the water, narrowly missing his hip. One of the demons leapt from a tree towards the pool and Hiei reached a hand towards it, nothing of significance happening until the demon hit the water's surface, where his entire body crumpled up with a series of sickening crunches as though he had just collided with a brick wall.

Yusuke made to ask Hiei what he had done – if anything at all – but the fire demon was already hoisting himself out of the water, and so Yusuke followed him, glancing back to watch as the twitching, broken body of their attacker slowly sunk into the pool, blood clouding the water around him. He turned back in time to see Hiei barely avoid being struck with an arrow, and the second of their pursuers leaping down from another tree. Yusuke quickly shot him down with his spirit gun, and even though he took the demon out with one blast, he remained tense, looking about himself and listening carefully for any other potential enemies that might be nearby. Hiei copied his actions, and, on instinct, the two moved to stand back-to-back, moving slowly around in a circle on the spot, each checking carefully for any more signs of trouble. As they both began to feel that the attack was over they slowed to a halt, and finally Hiei broke the silence between them.

"You nearly drowned me."

Yusuke turned to Hiei with a grin, dropping an arm across his shoulders.

"You rammed an arrow through my leg, so let's just say that's us even," he said.

"I was trying to help you," Hiei pointed out.

"I was trying to help you, getting you out of their sight!" Yusuke replied. "And hey, at least I took you into a pool of clean water. I could have dragged you into that dirty puddle instead."

Yusuke pointed at another nearby pool of dubious colour, and together he and Hiei looked over at it.

"That's not a puddle…" Yusuke muttered.

"It's some sort of gateway," Hiei added.

Yusuke aimed his right hand up into the sky, firing off a short blast of energy straight upwards.

"What did you do that for?" Hiei asked him.

"Signal," Yusuke replied. "To Kurama and Kuwabara. It looks like we've found the opening to spirit world."

"We found it?" Hiei asked.

"Yeah."

"You and me?"

"Yeah."

"Us?"

"Yes."

"Oh…"

Yusuke grinned, gripping his hand into Hiei's shoulder and pulling him tighter against his side.

"Aw, this is such a touching moment!" he said. "Me and my favourite half pint of bitter, sharing a hug."

Hiei twisted his head around to glare up at Yusuke.

"Move your arm," he warned him.

"Or what?" Yusuke snorted.

"Remove it from my shoulder, or I will remove it from your shoulder."

"Now there's the Hiei I remember!"

Yusuke lifted his arm from Hiei's shoulder, ruffling his hair as he drew his hand back. Hiei quickly ducked out of his reach, glaring up at him in outrage.

"Don't touch my hair!" he snapped.

He then balked as Yusuke lifted his fingers to his nose and sniffed tentatively at them.

"Awesome," he concluded, lowering his hand and wiping it off on his vest.

"What are you talking about?" Hiei asked quietly.

"My plan worked, short stuff," Yusuke replied. "Holding you in that clean water all that time has finally washed out that stupid, girly, flowery smell."

Yusuke laughed as he saw Hiei pale and his eyes grow large.

"This water really is very clean," he commented, moving over to the water's edge. "Well, it was really clean, you know, before that demon bled into it. Pity. Hey Hiei, what happened to that guy anyway? It was like there was something in the water. Did you do something?"

When his question was met with silence, Yusuke looked back over his shoulder to where Hiei had been standing, finding an empty space.

"Hiei?" he muttered, turning around on the spot, surveying his surroundings for any sign of the little fire demon. "Hiei!"

* * *

"What can I get for you, young lady?"

"Oh I'm not here to order food, I was here to visit your house-guest."

Botan raised her eyebrows expectantly, silently wondering why Mister Yukimura was pulling exactly the same face back at her.

"Yukina?" she tried. "Adorable little girl with big red eyes and beautiful long blue hair?"

Mister Yukimura slowly shook his head.

"She's staying in Keiko's room, she's a friend of Keiko's," Botan added.

"None of our daughter's friends are staying here," he answered her. "Keiko's not even here herself. It's just me and my wife."

Botan nodded, but inside she was starting to grow concerned.

"Well, alright then, thank you very much for your help," she said, bowing her head politely.

She spun on her heels and darted out of Yukimura restaurant, stopping outside and holding up her hands, looking at her fingers in thought.

"Okay, let's see… Yukina isn't staying at the Kuwabara household," she began, counting off her fingers as she spoke. "She isn't staying with Keiko at the university, she isn't staying here in the Yukimura household and she definitely isn't at the temple, so that just leaves…"

Botan quickly counted her fingers again.

"Nowhere…" she concluded quietly. "Oh dear…"

She summoned her oar and leapt onto it, quickly rocketing into the sky and taking herself back to Keiko's dorm room window. Shizuru had been blindly certain that Yukina was not with her or at her house, so she hoped that Keiko might be able to shed some light onto where the ice maiden might be.

As she neared her destination Botan's breath caught in her throat: on the clouds beneath her, she could clearly see Puu's shadow pursuing her, and gaining on her with every passing second.

Not wishing to tangle with the inexplicably furious spirit beast, Botan spiralled down through the clouds, swooping close to buildings and rooftops in a way she knew a winged creature could not do in the hope of putting some distance between them. She heard Puu call out to her a few times, but she did not dare look back, smiling in relief when she saw Keiko leaning out of her open dorm window. Botan aimed herself straight at Keiko, who barely managed to leap out the way before the ferry girl and her oar shot into the room.

"Shut the window!" Botan screamed, before hitting the back wall and falling to Keiko's bed.

Luckily Keiko did as she asked without hesitation and shut the window, screaming in shock as Puu almost collided with the glass.

"What's going on, Botan?" she asked, looking out at the baying beast hovering outside her window.

"Never mind about him, we have another problem," Botan replied, stumbling from Keiko's bed and pulling shut the curtains to block out Puu's view of them.

"Is it about Yusuke?" Keiko asked.

"No," Botan replied, shaking her head. "It's Yukina."

"Yukina?" Keiko asked. "What does Yukina have to do with any of this?"

"I can't find her," Botan explained.

"Didn't you say she was staying with Shizuru?"

"I thought she was, but when I asked, Shizuru said she was staying with your parents, and when I asked them, they said she wasn't there either. I thought she might be here with you."

"No, I wouldn't take her here to the campus, it would be too much for her."

"That's what I thought. So then where is she?"

"Hm… Well, if she's not with Shizuru or at the temple, there's really only one other place she might be, but surely not…"

"Keiko, this is desperate!"

Botan grabbed Keiko's arms tightly, hoping to convey the importance of the situation through the strength of her grip.

"I think she might be the only one apart from Yusuke who can calm Puu down!" she said.

"Okay, well, I guess maybe Kuwabara put her into his dorm room since he wouldn't be using it right now," Keiko suggested.

"Excellent!" Botan cheered. "Let's go!"

She grabbed Keiko's hand and fled from the room, running down the corridor, dragging Keiko with her.

"Do you know which way to go?" Keiko asked her.

"No…" Botan said, slowing to a halt.

"This way," Keiko said, tugging her hand and leading her along a side corridor.

Together they ran through the interior of the university dorm hall, eventually reaching the long, glass-walled corridor that connected the male and female complexes. Both girls looked out the windows as they ran, their eyes quickly locating Puu, circling around the sky, casting enormous shadows across the campus lawns.

"This is so weird, I don't like it!" Keiko said.

"I know, me neither," Botan agreed.

They continued on to Kuwabara's room, knocking frantically on his door and calling out Yukina's name. When their cries were met with silence, they both tried to force the door open before accepting that it was locked and the room beyond was empty. Botan spun around and slammed her back against the door, sliding down to sit on the floor.

"It's hopeless…" she muttered.

"Maybe not!" Keiko assured her. "Um, excuse me?" she called out to a passing student. "Do you know Kazuma Kuwabara at all?"

"Sure, I know Kuwabara," he replied, stopping to talk to her. "Haven't seen him for a couple of days though."

"Has he had a guest in his room at all?" Keiko asked.

"Guests aren't allowed, you ought to know that," he replied.

"We're looking for a friend of his, a small, delicate girl with aqua-blue hair and very fair skin. Have you seen anyone like that around here lately?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"I think I would notice if there was a chick with blue hair walking around our dorms."

"Oh, okay. Well, thank you anyway."

He nodded and walked on, and Keiko turned to Botan.

"What do we do now?" she asked. "Where do you think Yukina is?"

"There is one very easy way to find her," Botan said slowly. "But I'm too scared to do it."

Keiko moved back over to Botan's side and crouched down to bring her face level with the ferry girl's.

"What is it Botan?" she asked. "Tell me! I'll help you do it, whatever it is!"

Botan smiled humourlessly as she met Keiko's eyes.

"You mean we could go on an adventure?" she asked.

"Yeah, an adventure," Keiko replied, nodding in agreement. "Why should the boys have all the fun, right?"

Botan's smile faded.

"You might change your mind when you hear what it is…" she said in a low voice.

"Try me," Keiko said.

"Well, I have a demon compass," Botan explained. "If we could acquire a sample of Yukina's hair, we could use the compass to locate her."

"Excellent!" Keiko cried. "Hey Botan, for once you had a really good idea!"

"What do you mean "for once"?"

"So where can we get a sample of Yukina's hair?"

"I was thinking her hairbrush… Which she keeps in her bedroom… In Genkai's temple… Where Puu becomes his most violent…"

Botan and Keiko slowly stood up and crossed the corridor to a nearby window, looking out at the foreboding silhouette of a giant, long-beaked bird sitting on the roof of the girls' dorm building.

"Do you think those boys will appreciate what we're about to do?" Botan asked.

"Probably not," Keiko replied. "Maybe Kuwabara, since he cares about Yukina, but the others probably won't care in the slightest. But we're doing this for Yukina and Puu, right?"

"Right… It's strange, it's unlike Yukina to wander off on her own…"

"Something must have happened to her, Botan. Yukina would never wander off on her own, she's too meek and mild. She's more of a follower. She doesn't go around looking for "adventures" like you, Botan!"

Botan and Keiko smiled at each other, but both could still clearly see the anxiety in the others' eyes.

* * *

Hiei sneezed and Yusuke immediately muttered something.

"What?" Hiei asked, turning to him.

"You're sneezing because of the stink," Yusuke repeated loudly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hiei snottily replied.

"I'm talking about you!"

"Maybe your nose is just too close to your own armpit…"

Yusuke turned to Hiei, who was sitting alongside him on a log by the breach.

"What is it with you and body smells lately?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hiei insisted, looking at him from the corner of his eye.

"You were just starting to smell sweaty and like a real guy, and you ran off somewhere, and when you came back, you smelt like you do now: like flowers and that sticky crap that oozes out of trees!"

"That's just your opinion," Hiei said through a sigh.

Yusuke glared at Hiei, but Hiei had become distracted with a piece of bandage around one of his fingers that seemed to be coming loose. Yusuke was glad when he then sighted Kurama and Kuwabara running towards them, and he stood up, waving a hand to them. Hiei hurriedly tucked his bandage back into place and got to his feet as the others joined them.

"At last," Kuwabara commented, peering into the glowing hole in the ground.

"What is that smell?" Kurama asked.

Yusuke jerked his head in Hiei's direction and Kurama turned to the fire demon expectantly.

"I fell," Hiei said, sounding bored about the whole situation.

"When we get done here, I'm gonna give you a blood transplant the hard way…" Yusuke growled at him.

"What does that even mean?" Kuwabara asked.

"Stick around and I'll show you too," Yusuke offered.

"Is everything alright here otherwise?" Kurama asked, hoping to stop an argument before one really began. "Nobody has tried to attack you here?"

"Just two archers," Yusuke replied. "But we kicked their asses. I got an arrow in my leg, and Hiei shoved it right through and out the other side."

"That's the best way to remove an arrow," Kurama replied.

Yusuke's face dropped and Hiei smiled smugly.

"Well, whatever," Yusuke grumbled. "Check out the hole I've got going right through my leg now!"

He lifted up the torn section of fabric over his thigh, smiling expectantly at Kuwabara and Kurama.

"You exaggerate everything Urameshi," Kuwabara scoffed. "There's barely even a scratch there!"

"Shut-up Kuwabara!" Yusuke sneered. "You're just jealous because you wish this had happened to you so that you could go whining to Yukina afterwards and have her cry over you and heal it for you!"

"But Kuwabara is right, Yusuke," Kurama said.

"What?" Yusuke echoed, dropping his head to look down at the point where the arrow had entered his leg. "Hey, where the hell did my hole go?"

Kuwabara snorted, but swallowed back any laughter as Hiei shot him a disapproving glare. Yusuke poked at the faint red mark on his skin, disappointed to feel that it did not even dent inwards like a real scar from such an injury ought to.

"Hey, I guess my super-powered genes healed it away like they did with that dumb virus!" he concluded, lifting his head to smile at the others.

"Unlikely, but very little has been making sense lately," Kurama commented.

"Let's just do this," Kuwabara said, pointing at the breach. "I want to get back home."

The others agreed and together they moved to the very edge of the breach, standing in a line along it.

"Brace yourself, we could drop into a hive of armed demons," Kurama warned the others. "Hiei, you stay close to me," he added, turning to look down at Hiei at his side.

Hiei nodded in agreement, and together all four leapt through the vortex. On the other side, they found themselves in a poorly constructed stone room, bereft of life or decoration, but clearly part of the hurriedly built fort Koenma had described as existing within spirit world.

"Is there any way we can close that gap?" Yusuke asked, rubbing at his chin as he eyed over the opening they had just passed through.

"Never mind that, I got a more important question…" Kuwabara said. "Why are you guys holding hands?"

Kurama and Hiei turned to each other questioningly, both lifting their hand nearest each other and each looking as surprised as the other to see that they were in fact holding hands, their fingers tightly interlocked and their palms pressed together.

"Dude…" Yusuke muttered.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** The gang move deeper into the demon-built fort, but very quickly encounter more complicated problems than they had expected to. Botan and Keiko make a tragic discovery and Hiei's behaviour becomes even more erratic. **Chapter 7 – Too Nice**


	7. Too Nice

**Recap:** Yusuke and Hiei were attacked, and some strange, strange things happened, including a wound Yusuke suffered disappearing. Botan still couldn't find Yukina, and she enlisted Keiko's help to beat off Puu and get to the temple. Yusuke and Hiei found the gateway to spirit world, and when Kuwabara and Kurama joined them and they all jumped through it, something strange happened!

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Too Nice**

"I was making sure you didn't fall," Kurama said harshly, shaking his hand free of Hiei's hold.

"Well that was unnecessary, because I can take care of myself," Hiei replied.

"You didn't try to struggle."

"You didn't have to hold my hand that way."

"I held it no specific way."

"I disagree."

Hiei and Kurama turned their heads from each other, leaving Yusuke and Kuwabara fidgeting awkwardly in front of them.

"You guys were holding hands the way couples do on a date," Kuwabara said.

"Stop making it worse!" Yusuke hissed at him.

Kuwabara and Yusuke pulled faces at each other before also turning away, leaving all four standing in a loose circle, all facing outwards to avoid having to look at any of the others. All four held their stance for some time until finally Yusuke ended the moment, spinning around to look at the others' backs.

"Let's go kick some ass, and then we can all go home," he said.

"Sounds good to me," Kuwabara agreed, approaching the door and pressing an ear against it.

"Hiei, can you tell us what's out there?" Yusuke asked, turning to Hiei expectantly.

Hiei twitched slightly but otherwise did not respond.

"Hiei!" Yusuke snapped impatiently. "Come on, we need your jagan eye!"

"I don't think there's anything out there, you guys," Kuwabara said.

"You go out first then," Yusuke suggested.

Kuwabara carefully opened the door and stuck his head out of the room.

"I was being sarcastic!" Yusuke yelped.

"Well, I don't see anybody out here," Kuwabara replied.

Yusuke groaned, pushing Kuwabara aside and stepping out of the room ahead of him. Beyond the room was a dull corridor, stretching away from him on either side, both ends obscured by darkness. It was eerily quiet, and there were no immediate signs or sounds of life in either direction.

"This fort must be of significant size, if what Koenma told us was correct," Kurama said as he joined Yusuke out in the hallway. "There is a good chance we will not encounter any resistance until we move much further inside."

"Yeah, well, cold hard facts have never really been the brat's strong point," Yusuke replied.

"This is like Maze Castle all over again," Kuwabara groaned.

"Maze Castle?" Hiei echoed.

Kuwabara frowned down at him.

"Yeah, remember?"

Hiei stared blankly back up at him.

"The first mission we ever did together?" Kuwabara added.

"Tarukane and the Toguro Brothers?" Hiei asked.

Kuwabara slowly shook his head.

"Damn it Hiei, it figures you wouldn't even remember how instrumental I was in the Maze Castle mission!" he complained. "And besides, you weren't even on that mission against Tarukane anyway! That was just me and Yusuke!"

"And Kurama and Botan too," Hiei replied.

""Instrumental"?" Yusuke snorted, eying Kuwabara over with an air of disdain. "That's not how I remember it. I remember you running away a lot and almost drowning in a pit of lava."

"You don't drown in lava, Urameshi!" Kuwabara argued back.

"You almost did," Yusuke said with a shrug.

"Shall we split up?" Kurama suggested.

"Sure," Yusuke agreed.

"I'm not going with tiny," Kuwabara said, stepping back from Hiei.

"Well it's not my turn, I already did my share of weirdness management today," Yusuke said, turning to Kurama.

"Fine," Kurama replied. "You and Kuwabara go that way, and Hiei and I will go this way."

Yusuke nodded and he and Kuwabara turned left, moving off along the corridor together. Kurama turned to Hiei, attempting a smile but quickly losing momentum when he saw the worried way Hiei was looking up at him.

"Let's go," he said instead, turning right and starting on his way.

"I'm sorry."

Kurama flinched but tried to hide his surprise as he looked down at Hiei, walking along at his side.

"What for?" he asked.

"M-my jagan eye," Hiei replied, tapping a finger at his bandana. "I-it hasn't been working so well since I… Became sick."

"That's alright," Kurama assured him. "We need to move through this place and destroy it from the inside out anyway."

"You think I'm a burden."

"I never said that."

"It's what you're thinking though. Nobody wanted to be paired with me back there. Why? Because of who I am, or because of my weakness?"

"Kuwabara never wants to be left alone with you because he's scared of you, Yusuke is having difficulty dealing with how the virus has affected your behaviour and I…"

Hiei looked up at Kurama expectantly, and Kurama tried to avoid looking directly back at him.

"You seem different," he eventually finished.

"Better or worse?" Hiei asked.

"That's not important," Kurama answered, his words clipped and dismissive.

They walked on in silence for a little longer before Kurama found himself talking again, a small part of him already knowing that he was treading dangerous waters and yet he could not resist taking advantage of the opportunity he had.

"You're very vulnerable, and that's an unusual condition for you to be in," he said slowly, trying to chose his words as carefully as possible to avoid Hiei losing his temper and becoming violent. "I haven't seen you this way since we first met."

"I was a different person when we first met," Hiei stiffly replied.

"Yes, I know," Kurama agreed. "I just find it somewhat ironic that you're once more weakened and dependent on me. It's making me nostalgic."

"I was never dependent on you."

"I think you were, if only for a little while."

"That's just your opinion."

"True. I saw what you did, you know."

Hiei's eyes flickered up at Kurama a few times, and he distinctly began to sweat more so than he had been lately.

"I saw you watching me back then," Kurama continued. "You were curious, almost studying me. I often wonder what you were thinking."

"I was curious," Hiei replied. "I was captivated."

Kurama twitched again, sweating a little himself then.

"Your situation is unique," Hiei continued. "A long-lived, powerful fox demon and one-time legendary bandit seeking a position of power, relegated to life as a simple human. I was intrigued."

"I see," Kurama said. "I thought perhaps you were taking measure of me."

"I was."

"You wanted to prove yourself to me."

Kurama looked down at Hiei expectantly, but Hiei kept his head down as they walked, keeping his face infuriatingly out of Kurama's line of sight, refusing him the chance to gauge his reaction to his words.

"Maybe," he eventually said.

"You've wanted to prove yourself to me for a long time, haven't you?" Kurama asked, allowing himself a smile when he realised that Hiei was not going to look up at him again.

"For the longest time, yes," Hiei replied.

"Then let's make a deal: once this mission is over, once you've recovered and regained your strength, we will do battle once more."

"No."

Kurama stumbled slightly, his head whipping around to look down at Hiei, who was still holding his head down, affording Kurama only a view of his spiked hair.

"Why not?" he asked, keeping his eyes on Hiei in the hope that he would look up.

"If we battled, you would let me win," Hiei replied.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because that's your way. You would toy with me for a little while and then let me win to avoid me challenging you again."

"That's very presumptuous of you. Maybe I would transform into Yoko and humiliate you."

Hiei slowly lifted his head, the look on his face surprising Kurama: his red eyes were thinned and almost glowing and his jaw was squared as though he was barely containing anger.

"That was highly inappropriate," he said quietly.

"You don't want me to go easy on you, so I won't," Kurama replied. "I'll take you on in my most powerful form, and then there can be no doubt in your mind, whatever the outcome may be."

"Don't threaten me with your full demon form. You think I couldn't keep up with you, but you're wrong."

"Well then I will face you in my full demon form, and we will both know for sure."

"You and I are no longer talking about the same thing."

Kurama stopped abruptly, words failing him. Hiei walked on, glaring back over his shoulder at Kurama as though he had just deeply insulted him.

"I thought that was what you wanted, Hiei!" he called after him.

"Sadly you don't seem to understand what I want," Hiei replied. "Yet."

"What?"

Kurama's head tilted against his will as confusion took over common sense, but he did not hold the pose for long as he soon realised that Hiei as still walking on without him and was moving away from him quite rapidly.

"Hiei!" he called out.

He hurried after him, almost running into his back as he stopped abruptly. Kurama made to ask Hiei why he had stopped, but shortly saw why: apparently they had just found one of the gang of demons they had been looking for.

* * *

"Keiko, you should never have come with me!" Botan screamed. "What if you get hurt? Yusuke will kill me! And then Koenma will kill Yusuke because it's illegal for a demon to kill a human!"

"You're not a human, Botan!" Keiko reminded her. "Just keep going!"

"I'm scared!" Botan wailed.

"Try to think of this as an adventure!"

"I don't like adventures any more!"

Keiko tightened her hold of Botan's oar and turned her head to her right, looking back the way they had come. Her hair whipped over her face, almost obscuring her vision entirely, but she saw enough to see that Puu was still following them.

"He doesn't look so angry as he did before," she said as she turned back to Botan.

"He never does when I'm flying towards the temple," Botan said, keeping her head turned to the left, watching where she was going. "This is the one time he doesn't get aggressive, but then when I get close to the temple, he becomes uncontrollably wild!"

"He seems okay so far," Keiko assured her. "Maybe he's calmer because I'm here. Maybe I remind him of Yusuke and – ah!"

Keiko and Botan both lurched to one side, almost falling off the oar entirely as they were suddenly jolted forwards and downwards. After quickly steadying themselves they both turned right, seeing Puu's beak clamped down on the blade of Botan's oar. They both screamed, hanging on desperately to the handle of the oar as Botan lost control of it entirely, Puu's strength taking over, driving them onwards through the sky.

"How will we land?" Keiko asked Botan.

"Horribly?" Botan whimpered.

Keiko gulped and turned to Puu again.

"Puu?" she said, daring to let go of the oar with one hand to reach it out towards his beak. "Puu, it's okay. You don't have to be angry, everything's alright."

She touched her fingertips to the downy area just above where his beak connected to his head, tentatively stroking at him, watching his eyes for any signs of aggression. When he remained calm she found the courage to rest her entire hand onto his forehead and she even managed to smile.

"Oh, well done, Keiko!" Botan said, sighing in relief.

"See, he's not angry really," Keiko said.

Botan nodded, but as Keiko slid her hand towards the crest of Puu's mane something flickered across his eyes and he tightened his bite on the oar, arching up his back and shifting their flight path. Keiko snatched her hand from his head and grabbed at the oar again, trying to hold on.

"Bail!" Botan shouted suddenly.

"What?" Keiko echoed.

"Bail!" Botan yelled.

"Botan!"

Botan launched herself off of her oar but Keiko held on, crying out and landing almost as hard on the ground as Botan had as Puu drove the tip of the oar down into the forest floor. She was temporarily winded from the fall and by the time she had regained her senses she was already on her feet and stumbling over rocky ground and through the trees thanks to Botan, who had pulled her up and was dragging her along by her hand.

"What are we doing?" she asked.

"Running," Botan replied. "Whatever you do, don't look back."

Keiko immediately looked back, panic striking when she saw a suddenly enraged Puu running after them. She turned around and pushed harder, running faster at Botan's side. Puu had forced them down near the top of the sloping part of the forest floor by the temple steps, and so they were running uphill, making their escape doubly difficult. When they finally reached the edge of the trees and the end of the incline, Puu snapped at Botan's ankles, his beak narrowly missing her and stabbing into the ground. He rolled over with the momentum of the speed he had been running at, allowing the girls to cross most of the lawn unhindered. When he finally righted himself and shook off the mud from his face, he took to the air, flying low and fast, spearheading himself after them.

They screamed as they reached the doors, fumbling desperately to open them as Puu rocketed towards them. As he reached the halfway point they both managed to slide open a door each, and both gladly ran inside and spun around to slide the doors shut again. They pushed the doors as fast and hard as they could, but were not quick enough, the doors clattering against Puu's beak. They both shouted frantically at him, pushing the doors against him, gradually managing to push his pointed beak back outside.

Once they finally had the doors shut they quickly locked them into place and both ran through to the main living room area, away from the main doors, where they finally dropped to the ground to catch their breath.

"Oh, I feel terrible, Botan!" Keiko said. "Do you think we hurt him back there?"

"We didn't have any other choice," Botan replied. "Let's just do what we came here to do, and then get out of here."

"How will we get out of here?" Keiko asked.

"We'll need to create some sort of distraction to stop him attacking us as we leave."

"Like what?"

"I don't know yet. Let's find out where Yukina is first."

"Right."

Botan pushed herself to her feet and held out a hand to Keiko, helping her to her feet. Together they trudged through the temple to Yukina's bedroom, panting, sweating and dragging their feet.

"It's exciting, at least," Botan said as she slid open the door to Yukina's room.

"Yeah, facing death is always "exciting"," Keiko replied.

"Look at this place," Botan said, waving a hand at the small room they had entered. "Everything's all neat and plain and simple, just like Yukina."

"Yeah, she's got quite a sweet life up here, huh?"

Botan picked up a hairbrush from the vanity desk, pulling loose a single blue-green hair.

"This is the best place for her," she said.

"Where did Yukina come from, anyway?" Keiko asked as Botan fumbled through her pockets for her demon compass.

"The ice village, silly!" Botan said.

"I didn't know that," Keiko pointed out.

"Oh. Well, that's where she's from."

"She never talks about it."

"Maybe just because she doesn't live there any more."

"She never really talks about anything in her life."

"I suppose there isn't much to say. She's led a very quiet, simple, uneventful life."

"Do you think she ever gets bored living up here on her own?"

"She's not the type to get bored. She likes just tending the gardens and feeding the birds and listening to Kuwabara."

"I guess."

"There we are."

Botan snapped shut the demon compass, studying the face for a moment before flicking a finger at it impatiently.

"Is everything okay?" Keiko asked.

"It doesn't seem to be working," Botan replied.

"Maybe you need to take it near a window to get a signal," Keiko suggested.

"It's not a cell phone Keiko, it doesn't work like that."

"Then why isn't it working?"

Botan frowned down at the lifeless screen, the corners of her mouth slowly drooping downwards.

"Keiko, the compass is working," she said quietly.

"Oh great!" Keiko said. "So which way does it say to go?"

"No, it's working, and it's saying there is no signal," Botan solemnly replied, lifting her eyes to look at Keiko.

"No signal? How is that possible?"

"Well, it could mean that Yukina is more than 60 miles away, and that's why we can't pick up her signal."

"More than 60 miles away? But Yukina doesn't know anywhere else to go in this world, least of all somewhere that far away!"

"Well, the other possibilities are more… Difficult."

"What are the other possibilities?"

"She could be in spirit world, she could be in demon world, or…"

"Or what?"

"Or it could be that we can't trace the signal of her life energy because she has no life energy left."

"You mean she could be d…?"

Botan slowly nodded and Keiko felt her heart sink.

"How could that have happened?" she asked faintly.

"I don't know, but there's only way to confirm this for sure," Botan replied.

"Okay, what do we have to do?"

"I'm going to go out with the compass, and fly around this area in a 60 mile radius to see if I find a signal. If not, then it's probably safe to assume that she isn't anywhere in this world. While I'm travelling, I'll call Lord Koenma and Yusuke and ask if it's possible that Yukina could be in spirit world or demon world."

"Right. And what should I do?"

"Stay here, indoors, where you're safe."

"I don't like that idea."

Botan chewed at her lip in thought and Keiko shook her head.

"Call Yusuke now," she insisted. "Tell him Yukina is missing, and Puu is acting badly, and ask him for help us!"

"He's on a mission for Lord Koenma, he can't just drop that to come here," Botan pointed out.

"Please just call him."

Botan sighed, giving in to Keiko's demands and pulling out her communication mirror. She flipped it open and called Yusuke, waiting for him to respond, which he did after only a short delay.

"What's up, Botan?" he asked.

"Yusuke, we have a small problem," she replied.

"I got a big problem," Yusuke said, smirking darkly. "It's called Kuwabara."

"Ooh, Kuwabara!" Botan gasped.

"Well, that's gotta be a first: a girl who gets excited about Kuwabara!"

"Ask Kuwabara where Yukina is."

Yusuke frowned at the communicator.

"Just do it, Yusuke!" Botan snapped.

"Fine," he said through a sigh. "Hey Kuwabara!" he called over one shoulder. "Botan wants to know where Yukina is!"

There was a short pause, Yusuke nodded and then turned back to the communicator.

"She's staying at Kuwabara's place with his sister," he said.

"No she's not, I already tried there," Botan said.

"Oh. Hey, Kuwabara? Yukina's not at your place!"

There was another pause as Kuwabara answered Yusuke.

"He said she's staying with Keiko, or Keiko's parents," Yusuke eventually answered.

"No, that's not right either, Yusuke," Keiko said, leaning over Botan's shoulder to take herself into his line of vision. "We've lost her, do you have any idea where she might be?"

"How the hell would I know?" Yusuke asked.

"Give the communicator to Kuwabara!" Botan snapped.

"Hey, Kuwabara!" he called over his shoulder. "Botan and Keiko have lost Yukina. Any idea where she would go to?"

Kuwabara appeared on the screen at Yusuke's side, looking irate.

"What do you mean, you've lost Yukina?" he demanded.

"Exactly what it sounds like!" Botan retorted impatiently. "Do you know where she is or not?"

"I always know where she is!" Kuwabara replied. "We're connected by the red thread of fate, nothing can break that, I can always reach her, no matter where she is!"

"So do it already, idiot!" Yusuke snapped at him.

"Oh, right, okay."

Kuwabara closed his eyes and touched a finger to one temple. Yusuke pulled faces at him as they waited for him to open his eyes again – which took a lot longer than seemed reasonable. When he finally did open his eyes again, he looked confused and a little anxious.

"Did you find her?" Botan asked.

"It's so weird," Kuwabara quietly replied. "Normally I can always reach her, no matter where she is or where I am, but I got nothing. Absolutely nothing. I can't even tell where she is, never mind what she's thinking!"

Botan snapped the communicator shut, causing Keiko to yelp in surprise.

"Botan!" she said. "Why did you just cut them off?"

"Well, the thing is, unlike the demon compass, Kuwabara's connection to Yukina isn't restricted by distance or dimension…" Botan slowly replied.

"So he could find her no matter where she is, without doing an actual search!" Keiko said.

"Exactly," Botan replied with a nod of her head.

"So then why did you cut him off before we could ask him to look for her?"

"Because Keiko, he already did look for her, and he couldn't find her. Which means she must be gone."

"We already know that she's gone!"

"I mean she must be gone from this world."

"So she's in demon world? Or spirit world?"

Botan sighed, placing the demon compass and communicator down onto the vanity table by Yukina's hairbrush and then moving her hands to Keiko's shoulders.

"Sweetie, if Kuwabara can't find Yukina, she's no longer able to be found," she said gently.

"I don't understand," Keiko replied.

"She's dead, Keiko."

Keiko shook her head.

"No!" she said.

Botan nodded, her eyes blurring with tears.

"But how?" Keiko asked.

Botan turned her head towards the window and Keiko copied her action, both seeing Puu standing mere inches from the glass, glaring in at them.

* * *

Kurama grunted in surprised as his Rose Whip successfully broke through the crossbow the wiry demon was holding, but passed through the demon himself without doing him any harm.

"Stay back, I don't like this," he warned Hiei.

Hiei did not move, and as the demon ahead of them flung a hand out towards them Kurama quickly leapt in front of Hiei, shielding his face with his arm as he was hit with a wall of water.

"It's exactly what I feared," he whispered over his shoulder. "A water demon. Be careful, he'll…"

Kurama turned his head further, finding an empty space where Hiei had been standing.

"Hiei?"

He looked about himself frantically, eventually locating Hiei striding towards the water demon.

"Hiei!"

Kurama reached out a hand towards Hiei in vain as the water demon launched another water attack at Hiei, sending out a spiralling stream of water that snaked around Hiei's body. Kurama swung back his arm intent on whipping down the water demon; but before he could enact his plan Hiei grabbed the arc of water and swung it around at the water demon, who snarled angrily, clutching at his throat as blood sprayed from a wound Hiei had somehow inflicted upon him. Once he had recovered from his initial shock Kurama tore the demon apart with one crack of his whip, before turning suspicious eyes to Hiei, who was standing quite serenely, despite being drenched, his hair wilted downwards slightly under the weight of the water.

"What did you just do?" Kurama asked him.

"I cut him," Hiei replied, pointing down at the demon.

"With what?" Kurama asked.

"My sword."

"I didn't see you draw your weapon or store it afterwards."

"Maybe you're getting slow."

Kurama narrowed his eyes. There was no denying that Hiei was fast, but he had hoped that his own training had not become so lax that he could no longer see the fire demon draw his weapon, strike, and return it to its sheath.

"We should keep moving," Hiei said, stepping over a pool of congealing blood by the fallen water demon's leg.

"Yes, it's likely someone at least heard what just happened," Kurama agreed, following him onwards.

They moved on in silence, but did not get far before they both stopped abruptly at the sound of a distant and unmistakable cry of pain.

"That was Kuwabara," Hiei muttered, before starting to walk on again.

"Wait!" Kurama said, grabbing Hiei's arm and pulling him back. "This isn't something we can just rush in to."

"It sounds like Kuwabara isn't handling it, I don't see that we have a choice," Hiei replied, tugging his arm out of Kurama's grip.

"I know you dislike hesitation in battle, but this is one instance where rushing in is absolutely the wrong thing to do."

Hiei paused, and at first Kurama assumed he was just going to take off anyway: Hiei blindly believed that rushing in on the offensive was the best way to start any battle, and Kurama's more tactical, delayed approach had always angered him. And, above all, Hiei despised being told what to do, so the likelihood of him waiting then was virtually nil.

"I trust your judgement," he eventually said, turning his head to look back over his shoulder at Kurama.

"You do?"

The question was out before Kurama could stop himself from vocalising it, and although the look Hiei gave him made him feel all more ridiculous for having asked it, he was still glad that he had, in the hope that Hiei might expand on his answer.

"Why wouldn't I?" he asked instead.

"I don't know," Kurama replied awkwardly. "I suppose it's just that you and I rarely agree on this matter."

"Huh, you should know better than anyone not to suppose anything about anyone else."

"Yes, that makes sense…"

Kurama felt confused, but what he could sense up ahead was too concerning for his thoughts to linger on Hiei's unexpected compliance for too long. He had noticed that the corridor they had been walking along had been curved, and apparently it moved around in a complete circle, because, judging by the direction Kuwabara's voice had come from, they were on course for meeting up with Yusuke and Kuwabara, despite having moved off in the opposite direction from them initially.

"Stay close to me," he said, carefully moving onwards.

"Okay," Hiei agreed.

Kurama was again surprised by Hiei's compliance, but said nothing, instead focusing on what he could sense up ahead. It had been a long time since Kurama had last encountered such a demon as the one he already knew had caught Kuwabara, and he was secretly a little nervous about doing so again now. He reaffirmed his grip on his Rose Whip, casing a nervous glance down at it, finding himself doubting its effectiveness for the first time in more years than he could recall.

Hiei tugged at Kurama's sleeve, distracting him from his own thoughts and again leaving him a little surprised as he saw the fire demon pressing his back against the wall and sidling along, trying to keep himself concealed as they neared the sounds of a struggle ahead of them. Kurama copied his action, putting himself ahead of Hiei.

"You're a coward!" they heard Yusuke yell, his voice echoing slightly off the high walls around them. "If you had any balls, you'd fight me face-to-face!"

"Yeah, this is cheating!" Kuwabara added.

Kurama passed a slightly sharper bend in the wall and stopped, his breath hitching in his chest at what he saw: he had sensed as much from further back, smelt as much and already known as much, but it still startled him to see Yusuke and Kuwabara in the clutches of a demon plant under the control of a silver-haired fox demon.

"Listen to me very carefully Hiei," he whispered, keeping his eyes on the fox demon. "His powers may be similar to mine, but he is very young, and it's unlikely that he'll be able to do – Hiei!"

Kurama inadvertently shouted out Hiei's name as the fire demon ran past him, tearing out his sword, his teeth bared and his eyes blazing. The fox demon ahead of them turned sharply at Kurama's outburst, and with a small gesture of his hand sent a curled branch of the tree already holding Yusuke and Kuwabara out towards Hiei, who, despite appearing to be running, was moving ridiculously slow, especially by his own usual standards, and within seconds the branch had wound around his waist and was lifting him from the ground. Undeterred, Hiei grasped his sword with both hands and began hacking at the branch holding him, using his sword like a crude axe.

"You're wasting your time, shorty!" Kuwabara called up to him. "My spirit sword was totally useless again it!"

Hiei ignored him and continued trying to cut himself free, only stopping when the branch stopped moving, holding him in place on eye level with his captor.

"You're an angry, ugly little thing, aren't you?" the fox asked, smiling amusedly at him.

He sniffed at the air, his eyes twitching slightly.

"And you smell like the inside of a whore's boudoir," he added. "A cheap whore's boudoir."

"Well only you would know what that smells like!" Hiei snapped back, swinging his sword at the fox demon, who was mere inches beyond the reach of the tip of his blade.

Hiei strained and struggled and swung his arms about several times, managing to do nothing more than displace the air enough to make the ends of the fox demon's silky silver hair dance in the air about his shoulders.

"Finished?" the fox asked when Hiei finally stopped swinging his arms about.

"No!" Hiei replied, throwing his sword at the fox, who casually stepped to one side, turning his head to watch as the weapon fell to the floor beyond him with a clatter that echoed off the high walls.

"Oh, well done, Hiei!" Kuwabara groaned. "Just hand over your weapon, why don't you?"

"I don't need a sword to defeat him…" Hiei growled.

He grunted as the branch around his waist hoisted him sharply upwards, bringing him up between Kuwabara and Yusuke.

"Don't struggle," Yusuke advised him. "I did, and it just gets tighter. I think I broke a rib."

Hiei stopped struggling, but the incensed look did not leave his face, and his eyes continued to stare, unblinkingly, at their captor.

"And what's that I smell?" the fox demon asked, sniffing at the air around him. "It almost smells like a fox demon, but it stinks of human, too… Could it be the legendary bandit Yoko Kurama, who chose to merge himself with a human because he was scared of a couple of spirit world soldiers?"

Kurama stepped out from the shadows, showing himself to the fox demon.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I maybe don't have a famous reputation like you do, Kurama, but at least I still have my dignity," the fox replied.

"I asked your name," Kurama said coldly. "You have mine, let me have yours."

"It's Fumio."

"I've never heard of you."

"Probably not, since you left demon world some twenty years ago. Things have changed, Kurama. You're no longer the alpha male."

"I never was an alpha male. I left my pack many centuries ago. But you certainly are no alpha male either. You're still a junior."

"Chose your next words carefully. I may not be as old as you, but I am lot more powerful."

"With age comes experience and understanding. I believe I still have the upper-hand."

"I see you've lost none of your arrogance."

"You talk as though we have a prior acquaintance."

"You never knew me, but I knew you. And, how amusing, you've armed yourself with a plant. Do you really think you can control a plant around me? I'm clearly stronger than you; any plant will obey me before it obeys you. I will turn your own weapons against you, and you will–"

Fumio stopped abruptly as he heard something hit the ground behind him. He gave a small, curious frown before yelping out in pain and surprise as a booted foot kicked him hard in the crotch from behind. He hunched forwards, trying to suppress his pain, and spun around to confront his attacker, his face twisting as he saw Hiei grinning at him in an almost psychotic manner, shattered pieces of branch in each of his hands.

"How did you–?" he squeaked.

Hiei again cut Fumio off mid-sentence, smacking him across the face with one of the broken pieces of branch he was holding. As Fumio staggered and shook himself off, Hiei dived at one of the tree roots, tugging it out of the ground; but just as he got it free, Fumio grabbed the back of his cloak and yanked him up and back, pulling him from the root and throwing him back against a wall.

"What kind of sick bastard kicks another man in the crotch?" Fumio growled as he stomped over to where Hiei had landed.

He leaned over Hiei's fallen form, reaching for his cloak, but before he could reach his goal Hiei suddenly grabbed his ears, smoke bursting out from between his fingers with a sickeningly crackling sound. Fumio winced against the pain of having his ears burnt and Hiei used his momentary distraction to dart back over to the root he had uncovered, grabbing the tip in both hands and gripping his finger tightly into it. His hands and the root around them glowed, and for several seconds, nothing seemed to happen. Fumio smirked confidently and moved over to where Hiei was squatting.

"You fight dirty, it makes sense that a failure like Kurama would chose a cretin like you as a team-mate!" he said.

He punched Hiei in the side of the face, the blow sending Hiei rolling over with a small whimper of pain.

"Pathetic," Fumio concluded. "You see Kurama, I…"

His voice faded as a faint creaking sound reached his still stinging ears and he slowly turned to his demon tree, watching in uncontrolled horror as cracks began appearing in the bark, climbing upwards and outwards, cracking and creaking sounds filling the entire hallway until suddenly the whole tree burst apart, freeing Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"What the hell did you do?" he snarled, turning to Hiei.

"Forget about what he did, you need to worry about what I'm gonna do!" Yusuke yelled, grabbing Fumio's tail with one hand and punching the other hand into the small of his back.

As Fumio stumbled out of Yusuke's hold and Yusuke set about trying to knock him down, Kurama hurried over to Hiei's side, taking hold of his shoulders and pulling him up into a sitting position.

"Hiei?" he asked. "Are you alright?"

Hiei looked as though he was in shock, his pupils dilated and unfocused and his skin paler than ever: but slowly his eyes moved to Fumio, and gradually his features began to harden again. He spat a mouthful of blood to one side and got to his feet, putting a hand on Kurama's chest and pushing him out of his path before leaping over the shattered remains of the demon tree, heading towards Fumio.

"Hiei, stop!" Kurama shouted after him.

Kuwabara got up and grabbed at Hiei's cloak to stop him, but Hiei angrily wriggled out of the cloak and ran on, catching up to Yusuke as Fumio threw down a smoke-bomb, blinding them both. After the initial shock, Hiei tried to run through the smoke in pursuit of the fox demon, but Yusuke grabbed a hand around the waistband of his pants and held him back. He slowly stumbled back over the broken demon tree, dragging a reluctant and incensed Hiei with him, joining Kuwabara and Kurama on the other side of the mess the broken tree had left.

"Damn it, that stuff burns!" he complained, wiping his free hand at his watering eyes.

"I could have defeated him," Hiei grumbled.

"What the hell is wrong with you anyway?" Yusuke demanded, pulling Hiei sharply around to stand in front of him. "Why isn't that smoke hurting your eyes? And what did you kick him in the nuts for?"

"It seemed like the appropriate thing to do," Hiei replied, adjusting the waistband of his pants where Yusuke's grip had ruffled it.

"What did you to do that tree, Hiei?" Kurama asked.

"I freed those two from it," Hiei sarcastically replied. "Huh, talk about ungrateful!"

"Hiei, I've used that tree myself in battle, and I've never seen it break apart and collapse like that," Kurama said. "What did you do?"

"He was touching the root, and it was glowing with his powers," Kuwabara offered.

"That explains nothing," Kurama sharply replied.

"Well, I thought maybe it was like Pokémon, you know," Kuwabara added. "Fire type is doubly effective against grass type, right?"

"Shut-up, Kuwabara!" Yusuke groaned.

"We're letting that idiot get away!" Hiei pointed out. "Let's get him!"

He smacked a fist into his open palm, and again Yusuke had to grab the waistband of his pants to stop him.

"Just a minute there, big guy," he said. "Am I the only one who noticed we walked around in a circle without finding any other way out of this part of the fort?"

"Yes, we noticed that too," Kurama agreed. "Hiei and I encountered one low-level water demon, but nothing else."

"We only met Fabio," Kuwbara said.

"Fumio," Kurama corrected him.

"Right, and no other doors, or passageways," Yusuke said.

"Well, this complicates things slightly," Kurama said. "I would understand the entrance being closed off if they had achieved what they needed to in spirit world, but it's only been three days, they can't have control of the orchard yet, so surely they would leave the access open to allow them to import more weaponry."

"Maybe that's something else Koenma got wrong," Yusuke suggested, pulling out his communication mirror. "There's something suspicious going on in spirit world that he's not telling us about. We got a really weird call from Botan earlier, she hung up on us halfway through."

"What was she calling about?" Kurama asked.

"Yukina," Kuwabara replied. "She said she's gone missing, and I couldn't find her when I tried to reach her with my special telepathic link."

"You think she could have been kidnapped again?" Yusuke asked.

"What do you mean "again"?" Hiei snapped.

"Well, like last time, with Tarukane," Yusuke replied. "Remember? He kept her behind a wall of special talismans, and you couldn't reach her with your jagan eye, so maybe it's the same thing again now. Maybe she's locked away behind some special force and that's why Kuwabara can't reach her."

"Nonsense," Hiei said flatly.

"We don't really have time for this anyway," Kurama said. "Call Koenma. The problem in spirit world and the existence of this breach and the virus it has created are far more important."

"More important than what?" Hiei asked, rounding on Kurama.

"We have to think sensibly here Hiei, there is no place for emotion," Kurama answered. "One life can't be prioritised over several hundred and the fate of spirit world."

"Kurama's right," Yusuke agreed. "Botan'll find Yukina, we need to concentrate on this mess."

As Yusuke and Kuwabara called Koenma, Hiei turned his back on them, spitting out more blood. He hunched his shoulders and dragged the back of one hand across his lips to clear the blood, sweat and sliver still clinging to one corner of his mouth, flinching angrily when his cloak landed on his shoulders.

"You're shivering," Kurama said as he tried to arrange the cloak over Hiei, who shortly ducked out of his reach. "I thought you might still be cold."

"I'm not cold," he snapped, throwing his cloak to the ground.

"Don't worry about your sister," Kurama assured him. "She can't have gone far."

"I'm not worried," Hiei said.

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I know exactly where Yukina is. I always do."

"Oh, well, perhaps you should tell Botan. She seems to be concerned."

"At least somebody is."

Kurama started to ask Hiei what he meant, but Hiei crouched down and picked up his cloak, tugging it back on and stomping over to Yusuke's side, peering into his communicator as Koenma responded to the call. After a brief moment of feeling confused and as though he had somehow missed something, Kurama followed Hiei's lead, and moved over to stand next to Kuwabara as they listened to Koenma updating them on the situation.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** The boys are ejected from spirit world, Keiko makes a sinister discovery in Yukina's bedroom, Kurama figures out what's really affecting Hiei's behaviour and actions, Jin updates the boys on the development of the virus antidote, Puu becomes sweet and gentle again, Botan makes a proposition to a certain demon and reveals a secret to another and Hiei and Kurama have a tense confrontation regarding Yukina's secret. (Long chapter is long!) **Chapter 8 – Truths Negated**


	8. Truths Negated

**A/N:** Demon fantasy Botan tries to prey on is taken from "Stranger Than Fiction", one of my favourite films (because I am Karen Eiffel).

Long chapter is long.

 **Recap:** The boys discovered a maze inside the fort in spirit world, they fought a fox demon (who made a sneaky getaway) and Hiei just kept getting weirder. Back in living world, Botan and Keiko tried to track Yukina with the demon compass and failed, and even Kuwabara could not find her, leaving Botan to conclude that Yukina must have died.

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Truths Negated**

"All we needed was for you to find the breach. Now that we know where it is, I can deploy one third of the squad there to close it from the demon world side, sealing the bandits into spirit world and cutting off their escape and supply of weaponry. The remainder of the SDF can easily beat them into submission from spirit world's side, your work is done."

Yusuke scrunched up his face.

"Don't give me that crap!" he snorted. "What are you hiding from us?"

"Honestly?" Koenma asked. "You're still not especially liked in spirit world Yusuke, and although my father tolerates you visiting living world, he won't tolerate you parading around spirit world. The demons in that fort are not strong; the SDF can easily defeat them."

"We met a fox demon," Kuwabara said. "He was pretty strong."

"Go back to demon world and wait by the breach," Koenma insisted. "I'll send three officers over there, but until they arrive, I would appreciate it if the four of you would guard the breach."

"This was the worst mission you ever sent me on!" Yusuke complained. "I didn't even get to break a sweat!"

Kuwabara and Kurama gave him exasperated looks, but he was oblivious to them, his eyes still fixed on Koenma.

"We'll guard the breach until the boy scouts get here," he reluctantly agreed.

"Thank you Yusuke, for everything," Koenma said.

"Yeah, sure."

Yusuke snapped the communicator shut with a sigh.

"Well, you heard the brat, let's go," he said.

"Doesn't this seem kinda suspicious to anyone?" Kuwabara asked as all four started to move on. "Like it's not quite over yet?"

"It isn't over yet!" Yusuke sighed. "This stupid fort is still standing, and the bastards that built it are still running loose in spirit world!"

"On the bright side, once the breach is closed, the source of the virus will have been removed, and hopefully the doctors will perfect their antidote soon, and normality can be restored in demon world, at least," Kurama said.

They walked on in silence for a little longer before Yusuke spoke again.

"I agree with Kuwabara, this isn't over yet," he said.

"Hey, at least this way I can get home and find Yukina," Kuwabara said.

Hiei snorted and the others turned to him questioningly.

"I'm also looking forward to finding Yukina," he said when he noticed them watching him.

"You're so weird, Hiei," Kuwabara complained.

* * *

Botan and Keiko crawled quickly and quietly along the hall, both infrequently glancing at the wall opposite the windows they were keeping themselves below, each whimpering each time they saw the shadow of Puu pacing about outside.

"This is hopeless!" Keiko whispered. "No matter which part of the temple we go to, he follows us!"

"Well, on the bright side, he doesn't try to break into the temple," Botan whispered back. "So as long as we're indoors, we're safe."

"Botan, it's not practical for us to stay in here indefinitely!"

"Not indefinitely! Just until Yusuke gets back."

Keiko sighed, stopping to sit back onto her heels. She straightened her back and craned her neck to peer out of the nearest window, her eyes very quickly locating Puu pacing about on the lawn outside. She watched him walk back and forth, noticing for the first time that he was moving in a strange rhythm. Botan crawled back over to join her, peering out the corner of the window at the agitated spirit beast.

"He's walking funny," Keiko whispered. "His right foot, he isn't using it the same way as his other foot. Do you think that means Yusuke is hurt?"

"No," Botan replied, shaking her head.

"But usually that's what happens," Keiko pointed out.

"But Puu only becomes sad or weak when Yusuke is hurt," Botan said, pointing a finger out the window. "He never actually shows any wounds."

Keiko leaned closer to the glass, squinting at Puu's foot.

"Oh!" she gasped as he turned around, affording her a better view of his affected foot. "He's hurt! Maybe that's why he's so distressed! We should help him!"

Botan grabbed Keiko's arm as she started to stand up and pulled her abruptly back down.

"It's more likely he sustained that injury fighting me mid-air!" Botan explained when she caught Keiko eying her questioningly.

"Did you deliberately wound him?" Keiko asked.

"Of course not!" Botan replied. "But he was pushing me out of the sky, I had to do something to defend myself!"

"So you did that to him?"

"Well I don't remember doing that to him… In fact, it sort of looks like a burn more than anything and I certainly never tried to burn him…"

"Who would burn Puu?"

Botan shrugged again and Keiko sighed.

"We're stuck here until Yusuke gets back, aren't we?" she asked.

"Pretty much, yes," Botan reluctantly agreed.

Keiko stood up, biting her lip as Puu screamed out at her, charging towards the window. As Botan had said, he stopped just short of the glass, but did not stop crying and stamping about from foot to foot.

"Do you think whatever burnt him was the same thing that killed Yukina?" Keiko asked.

"I don't know," Botan replied, standing up. "I'm going to make some tea and shut the curtains so we don't have to… Well, you understand."

"I'm going back to Yukina's room," Keiko said. "Just in case there are any clues there about what might have happened to her."

Botan nodded and they separated, Botan closing curtains as she went and Keiko hurrying back to Yukina's room, trying not to look either out the windows she passed or at the shadows on the walls those windows were casting.

Back in Yukina's room she found it exactly as Botan had described it earlier: neat, plain and simple. She felt a little rude and intrusive looking too closely at anything there, but she forced herself to open the small wardrobe door and look inside, telling herself that she was doing it for Yukina's sake. Inside the wardrobe she found a single pair of sandals on the floor, and a very small selection of clothing arranged on the hangers. She slid the hangers along, briefly eying over each outfit she passed. The first was a summer yukata, very similar to Yukina's preferred blue kimono, the second was a button-up pink dress, the label of which told Keiko it had been bought in a children's clothing store, and the third and forth were also dresses meant for pre-teenage girls, of a similar plain style that buttoned up to the neck and hung down to a below-knee length.

Keiko closed the wardrobe doors again and swallowed hard against a tightness growing in her throat. Yukina was just a child, it seemed unfair that she should have perished. How had it happened and why? Why had nobody seen or heard anything?

She sighed, a tear escaping one eye, and she moved over to the vanity table, opening the drawer beneath it. It was empty, but there was a faint scent of salty honey emanating from the wooden interior. Keiko closed the drawer again and moved to the nightstand, opening the drawers there. The top drawer contained a small selection of plain white underwear that again looked as though it was meant for a child, and the bottom drawer contained a small selection of sleeping yukatas that Keiko was almost certain Yukina had made herself. None of it was in any way telling, and so, as a last resort, Keiko pulled back the bed-sheets and lifted up the pillow to be sure there was nothing hidden in the bed. However her search was fruitless, and so she dropped the pillow back down and began rearranging the bed-sheets, tucking them back into place.

Keiko stopped short as her fingers touched something between the bed-stand and the mattress. She slowly pinched the edge of a piece of paper, sliding it out from under the mattress and placing it on the floor.

"Oh my…" she whispered, before turning back to the bed and lifting up the mattress.

The entire bed-stand was littered with pages of material similar to the one she had just recovered, and seeing them was such a shock, Keiko dropped the mattress with a scream that made Puu yelp outside the temple and Botan break something in the kitchen.

* * *

"That's disgusting."

"You're only saying that because you can't do it too."

"No, that's disgusting, Yusuke. And it smells."

Yusuke shrugged indifferently, but Kurama continued to look less than impressed.

"That's nothing Urameshi, I can do the first verse of the national anthem without pausing for breath," Kuwabara boasted.

"Oh, please don't," Kurama said.

"I bet you can't," Yusuke said.

"I can too!" Kuwabara argued. "Check it out."

The group, who were on their way back through demon world after meeting up with the three soldiers Koenma had sent, stopped walking to listen as Kuwabara attempted to belch his way through the national anthem without pausing, as he had promised. After a few atonal, guttural noises, punctuated by a few desperate pauses for air, he vomited against a tree.

"Gross, dude," Yusuke said, shaking his head.

"This is why I told you to stop," Kurama pointed out.

"You're just jealous because you can't burp-sing," Yusuke replied.

"Why would he be jealous of that?" Hiei asked, eying over Kuwabara. "It's hardly a skill or talent."

"It figures you'd be disgusted by it Hime," Yusuke muttered.

"I don't wanna play any more Urameshi, you win," Kuwabara said.

"So what the hell are we supposed to do to pass the rest of the journey back?" Yusuke asked.

"I know another game we could play!" Kuwabara said.

"It better not be something lame," Yusuke warned him.

"Nuh-uh, it's called "fart face"."

"Sounds lame."

"No it's not, watch."

Kuwabara grabbed a handful of Hiei's hair, holding him in place and then lifted up one leg to fart into his face. He then quickly released Hiei and scurried away from him, moving himself behind Yusuke before daring to laugh.

"He's the perfect height for that game!" Yusuke said.

"I know, isn't it great?" Kuwabara replied. "I've wanted to do that for years, but I figured this was the only time I could without him killing me. It's fun, you should try it."

"Don't you dare!" Hiei yelled, whipping out his sword and aiming it at Yusuke.

"Hey, check it out!" Yusuke said, ignoring Hiei's threat. "I bet I can make a bigger splash than you, Kuwabara!"

"I bet you can't, I've got the size advantage!" Kuwabara replied.

Together they ran off to one side towards a pool of water.

"Do you want to join them?" Kurama asked Hiei.

"Absolutely not!" Hiei replied. "I just finished fixing things after that first time Yusuke dragged me under the water."

Kurama frowned at Hiei, but he did not elaborate, and as he was still clutching his sword and still looked a little desperate, Kurama decided against questioning him any further on the matter.

"Let's walk on then," he said instead.

Hiei stowed his weapon once more and moved on at Kurama's side. For a long time Kurama smiled to himself as he listened to Yusuke and Kuwabara whooping and splashing about behind them. Once he was sure Hiei ought to have calmed down at least a little, he dared to broach a subject that had been bothering him since leaving spirit world.

"Hiei, I've been watching you very carefully these past few days," he began.

"You have?" Hiei responded, trying to sound indifferent but failing to hide the curiosity in his eyes as he glanced up at Kurama.

"Yes, I have," Kurama confirmed. "And I've noticed something."

"Oh really?" Hiei said with the same air of forced impassiveness.

"Yes, really. I'm not a fool, and you should know that. I know what's really going on here."

Hiei stopped abruptly and Kurama stopped a step ahead of him before slowly turning to face him, smiling as he saw the panicked, pale and sweaty appearance of Hiei's face.

"I've seen everything you've been doing, and it's very obvious what you're really trying to do," he continued. "I was suspicious from the start of this mission, but when I saw you destroy that tree I knew for sure what you were up to. The unexpected powers and abilities you've displayed, your insistence on disguising your scent from detection behind copious amounts of perfumes, and, more specifically, your destruction of a very powerful demon plant: there's only one possible explanation for it."

"I was going to tell you," Hiei said softly, looking up at Kurama with large, almost scared eyes.

"It amuses me," Kurama assured him.

"Amuses you?" Hiei echoed, his eyes narrowing and his usual scowl returning to his face. "You think I did this for anyone's amusement?"

"It is, of course, a serious issue," Kurama replied. "But nonetheless, I find it derisive: you're preparing for our rematch."

"I, um, what?"

"I'm flattered that you have gone to such lengths to prepare – disguising your scent so that I won't be able to pick you out, I don't know where or how you learned how to destroy a demon plant like that, because I have never seen such a technique, and it is quite flattering that you would go to such lengths in a bid to provide me with a challenge. And there's something else. You're doing something to distort your energy signal. I haven't quite figured out what it is, but I can no longer clearly identify your energy signal as your own – you feel like someone completely different, in power and ability. Like I said, I find it flattering that you are going to such great effort for our rematch, and, having seen the lengths you have gone to, I promise you I will come at you with all I have when we finally do collide."

One of Hiei's eyes twitched slightly, and the corners of his mouth drooped.

"Don't look so disheartened, Hiei!" Kurama said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You should know by now that you can't fool me. You criticise my analytical approach to battle, but it does mean that nothing ever gets by me. And, really Hiei, you ought to know better than to try to play a trick on a fox: we are expert tricksters ourselves, and so we know how to detect trickery in others."

Hiei gasped as Kurama waved a hand over one of his ears and produced a small piranha plant.

"Where did that come from?" he asked, his red eyes on the little carnivorous flower. "Did you plant that on me?"

"Yes, I planted it on you, Hiei," Kurama solemnly replied.

"Where?" Hiei asked, hands moving into his hair and fumbling around experimentally.

"Behind your ear. I planted an entire army of them."

Kurama tugged at Hiei's ear-lobe lightly to demonstrate his point, smiling as Hiei gasped again and moved a hand to his ear.

"I was just making a joke, relax," Kurama assured him.

He took hold of Hiei's wrists and pulled his hands from his head, offering him a reassuring smile.

"Don't tease me like that again," Hiei said, looking almost sulky as he spoke. "It isn't fair."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist," Kurama replied.

Several seconds passed before Kurama noticed the increasingly agitated look on Hiei's face. Kurama's smile slowly faded as Hiei's eyes fell from his and fixed onto something that made him appear to blush slightly. Kurama followed the direction he was looking, and only then realised that he was still holding Hiei's wrists in his hands. He immediately released him and Hiei's head snapped up again, his face pale again and his eyes curious and wary. Kurama had no idea how to explain what had happened or how to end the moment, and he was silently glad when Yusuke and Kuwabara streaked past them in their underwear.

"We should keep moving," he suggested.

Hiei's eyes were still on Yusuke and Kuwabara, who were trying to strike each other with their own drenched and rolled up clothing.

"I don't understand it either," Kurama whispered to Hiei.

Hiei turned to him, and upon seeing his smile, the tension eased from his face.

"Let's go," Kurama said.

Hiei nodded, and they moved on again.

* * *

Yusuke pursed his lips to stop himself from smiling, though it was proving increasingly difficult to contain his amusement.

"And that's it," Jin said. "I've been here ever since."

Yusuke nodded slowly, before glancing over his shoulder at the others to see if they were struggling as he was: Kuwabara looked afraid, Kurama looked mildly concerned and Hiei was looking up at the sky one hand idly playing with the hair at the back of his neck. He turned back to Jin, who was dressed in a threadbare robe and standing leaning against the side of the medical transporter, his face pale and slightly gaunt.

"So they haven't made a proper cure yet?" Yusuke asked.

The wind demon shook his head solemnly.

"But people are getting better, right?" Yusuke asked.

"Not so far," Jin replied. "Except you, Yusuke. Immune to the virus, you're a lucky soul, so you are."

"Yeah, but I don't get it," Yusuke said. "The doctor took blood from me and Kurama to help cure everyone on this bus."

"They told us they don't have an antidote worked out yet," Jin said.

"Isn't there anything they can do for you at all? I mean seriously, you can't go around like that!"

Jin's eyebrows inched upwards and he slowly looked down at himself.

"I'm decent," he concluded. "And I couldn't just lie around in a bed all day."

"But you sound like a mouse that's been kicked in the balls!" Yusuke said. "You even sound worse than Hiei!"

Jin's eyebrows dropped down into a frown.

"B-but at least you're still smiling, right?" Kuwabara said, stepping forwards and elbowing Yusuke in the ribs.

"I was being honest!" Yusuke protested.

"Perhaps we should talk to the doctors here again," Kurama suggested.

"What about Mukuro?" Yusuke asked.

He turned to Hiei, who was still distracted by a passing cloud in the sky.

"Hey Hiei! Being in a healing chamber at Mukuro's place partially cured you, right? Maybe Mukuro could take some of the sick from here and cure them at her place."

Hiei slowly turned to look directly at Yusuke, a confused and mildly concerned look on his face.

"Damn it, Hiei…" Yusuke muttered through a sigh.

"Maybe we should divide our efforts," Kurama offered. "Yusuke ought to stay here, in case he can help the doctors further, Kuwabara can return to living world to report back to Botan and I will take Hiei back to Mukuro, so that he can return to a healing chamber himself and I can negotiate with Mukuro about the possibility of taking some patients into her facilities."

"That's a great idea Kurama, but you'd just be wasting your time," Jin interjected. "I hear Mukuro's facilities are all full up, and she has just as many problems as we do. Her healing chambers don't cure the disease; best she's managed is to stop the infection getting any worse by keeping the sick in suspended animation."

"Damn it!" Yusuke cursed.

"Then I suppose there's nothing more we can do," Kurama reluctantly admitted.

"We should go back to living world," Kuwabara said.

"Yeah, I guess so," Yusuke agreed. "Maybe Botan knows more, or if not, she can at least let us know if the SDF got rid of Fabio and his friends yet."

"Fumio," Kurama corrected him.

"Right, whatever. Well, keep fighting Jin."

Jin nodded and smiled, but the others felt far less confident than he looked.

* * *

"Romanticide."

"No. There's no such word."

"There most certainly is! It's in the book, look!"

Botan spun her notebook around and tapped a finger at the page angrily. Keiko leaned over the table to read the specific line of text before slowly sighing and looking up at Botan again.

"You wrote that, Botan," she pointed out.

"I wrote it because it's true," Botan replied, grabbing up her notebook and slamming it shut.

"There's no such word as "romanticide" and even if there was, I'm pretty sure this isn't the right definition of it," Keiko insisted.

"She killed herself because she was in love," Botan said.

"We don't know that for sure."

"Yukina has vanished, all traces of her life force have vanished, Kuwabara can't even find her, and we just found a mountain of evidence that says she was depressed and ready to do something drastic. Suicide is a very drastic thing to do."

"I don't believe Yukina would commit suicide."

"But it explains so much."

"Like what Botan? Yukina was too sensible and gentle for something like that!"

"You saw those things she wrote and drew."

"Everybody writes dramatic things in their journals from time to time. If Yusuke disappeared and somebody was checking my journals, they'd probably think I was the one that had killed him. That's the whole point of keeping a journal: you use it to say things you would never say to anyone else, and to vent your emotions!"

"Your first reaction was to scream when you saw them."

"I was shocked."

Botan narrowed her eyes almost accusingly.

"I think you're wrong, Botan," Keiko insisted.

"What if I'm right?" Botan asked. "What if Yukina has killed herself?"

"She didn't leave a suicide note, and there's no sign of a body… Can we not have this conversation?"

"It's our duty to investigate this."

Keiko shook her head.

"It is," Botan insisted. "I'm going outside."

"Botan!"

Keiko shot to her feet, but Botan had already reached the door. She quickly pushed aside her chair and hurried after the impatient ferry girl, joining her as she slid open the front door. Both girls glanced nervously about, each as surprised as the other when they saw that Puu was nowhere in sight, especially after he had been quite conspicuous all day, pacing about the lawns. It was getting late and the sun was low in the sky, almost completely hidden from their view behind the trees that surrounded the temple grounds, and the air was unusually still and silent.

Botan moved first, stepping out onto the porch, still looking all about herself as she went. Keiko cautiously followed, remaining a few steps behind as Botan continued onto the lawn itself. They slowly crossed the lawn in silence, both tense with anticipation that only seemed to get worse as they moved further from the temple and still found no trace of Puu. Keiko hesitated briefly when she realised that Botan was leading her towards the barn Puu usually lived in, but when their surroundings remained quiet and calm, she continued on again, eventually catching up to Botan, who had stopped by the open barn doorway.

Inside the barn, Puu was lying on a loose, untidy nest of hay, his head tucked under one wing. Keiko turned to Botan, who quickly shook her head and pressed a finger to her lips. Together they began to quietly and carefully tip-toe backwards away from the barn, watching Puu as they went for any signs of him stirring from his slumber. Once they were several feet back, Botan turned around to run, only to literally bump into someone. She screamed in fright and Keiko screamed because Botan had, and Puu awoke with a startled cry.

"We woke Puu!" Botan cried.

"Run!" Keiko said.

Keiko ran off, but Botan was prevented from following as someone grabbed her arms and held her in place.

"Botan? Are you alright?"

She blinked and focused her eyes on the person in front of her, barely registering who he was when she heard Puu moving in the barn behind her.

"We have to flee, Kurama!" she said.

"Why?" he asked, holding her in place.

"Puu will eat us if we don't!"

"Puu?"

Kurama looked over Botan's shoulder at the spirit beast in question, who was stepping out of the barn. He shook his head, his ears flapping about almost comically, and then casually strolled past where Kurama and Botan were standing. Botan screamed and ducked her head down as he passed, but Puu did not break stride, continuing out across the lawn.

"Botan, are you alright?" Kurama asked, turning back to Botan.

"He's been trying to kill me since you boys went on your secret mission without me!" she replied.

"Who's been trying to kill you?" he asked.

"Puu!"

Kurama looked back over his shoulder, watching as Puu met up with Yusuke, who patted him on the head in greeting.

"Botan, have you been drinking?" he asked, turning back to Botan.

"No I have not!" Botan yelped defensively.

"Are you sure?" Kurama asked.

"Well I did have one beer earlier, but Puu has been attacking me since you left!"

Kurama nodded his head and released his hold of her.

"Well he seems quite placid now," he said.

"Probably because Yusuke's here," Botan replied.

"Probably," Kurama agreed. "We've had an unusual few days, I'm glad to be back here, to be honest. Perhaps Puu felt what we were going through and was concerned for Yusuke's welfare."

"I wouldn't know, nobody even told me what the mission was all about!" Botan complained.

"Well, perhaps we could talk about it. You could tell me about Puu's escapades and I could tell you about some of the things we did in demon world. Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night–"

"Hiei!"

Kurama staggered back a step, more out of shock than physical force, as Botan literally pushed past him and ran off across the lawn.

"Hiei!" she cried, waving her hands above her head as she hurtled towards him.

Hiei, who was standing a short way behind Yusuke, turned to watch her approach expressionlessly.

"We need to talk!" she insisted, grabbing his arm and dragging him away from Yusuke, warily eying Puu over as she passed his back.

"All this fuss is unnecessary," he flatly told her as he stumbled after her across the lawn.

"No, it's very necessary," she argued. "Something terrible has happened, and you need to understand the magnitude of–"

Botan yelped as she was yanked to a halt.

"Where are you taking me?" Hiei asked when she looked back at him for an explanation.

"Away from the others so that we can talk!" she replied, trying to drag him onwards into the forest.

"Here is fine," he said, pulling back on her. "Say what you must and then leave me alone."

She sighed, dropping his arm and turning to face him directly.

"We need to talk," she said.

"You already said that," he reminded her. "Now get to the point or I won't bother listening."

"It's about Yukina," Botan quickly replied.

"What about her?"

"She's gone."

"Yes."

"You already knew?"

"Yes."

"Oh… Aren't you sad?"

"Why would I be?"

"Well, it's sad, isn't it? She killed herself because of–"

"What?"

"She killed herself because of–"

"Yukina didn't kill herself, you idiot!"

"But she's gone, and nobody can find any trace of her! Kuwabara couldn't reach her with his special love-link, and even the demon compass couldn't track her down!"

Botan produced her trusty spirit world device, looking down at the blank screen miserably.

"Not even a single blip…" she said, tapping at the unresponsive screen.

"Yukina had to go somewhere, but she'll be back," Hiei said.

"But where did she go and why didn't she tell anyone before she left?" Botan demanded.

"None of your business and maybe she didn't want to tell you," Hiei replied.

"It must be somewhere very far away and secluded and protected and remote and separate if neither the demon compass nor Kuwabara can find her…"

Hiei's eyes moved to the compass in Botan's hands.

"How does that device work, exactly?" he asked.

"It tracks a demon's energy signal," she replied.

"There are several demons here, how does it specifically look for one demon's energy signal alone?"

"Oh well that's easy. It uses a DNA sample to hone in on one demon."

"DNA?"

"Yes, look."

Botan snapped open the compass and lowered her hands to allow Hiei to peer inside it. He carefully plucked the single strand of sea-green hair from the interior of the compass between bandaged fingers, lifting it up to hang in the air in front of his face.

"Where did you acquire this?" he asked quietly.

"Yukina's hairbrush, in her bedroom," Botan casually replied. "But you say she's gone away somewhere? I wish you would tell me where, Hiei. I'm sure she's safe if you're happy with wherever she is, but I'm her friend and I have a right to know where she is too."

"Why were you in Yukina's bedroom?" Hiei asked, moving his eyes from the hair to Botan.

"I was looking for Yukina!"

"You entered her room in her absence?"

"I was trying to find her, and I needed to get a hair, and I knew she kept her hairbrush there."

"Isn't that a terrible invasion of privacy and betrayal of trust?"

Botan gasped.

"I've been in Yukina's room plenty of times before!" she said.

Hiei narrowed his eyes and Botan snatched the hair back from him, stuffing it back into the compass.

"We're friends, Hiei," she said. "I was worried about her, and I was trying to find her."

She closed the compass again, and again watched it for any signs of life. When it remained blank she stuffed it back into her pocket.

"Excuse me," Hiei said, stepping forwards.

"Wait!" Botan said, side-stepping to block his path.

He glowered at her and she grinned nervously.

"Please wait?" she tried.

"What do you want?" he asked. "Tell me quickly, I grow weary of listening to you."

"I will tell you, but I have to whisper it."

Hiei leaned to one side to look beyond her.

"I don't think anyone else will hear you if you just say it out loud," he concluded.

"But it's very secret," she said.

Hiei narrowed his eyes further still, looking almost animalistic. Undeterred, Botan leaned forwards and whispered something into his ear.

"Why would I want to do that?" he asked, his tone as flat and disinterested as ever.

"I thought you might like it," she replied.

"Why are you still whispering?"

Hiei leaned away from Botan to glare up at her suspiciously.

"Move away from me, Botan," he warned her.

She smiled and he frowned.

"Maybe you'd prefer to watch me–"

"I don't want to watch you do anything!"

Hiei sneered at Botan, but Botan, rather than be afraid or offended by his outburst, instead looked thoughtful, as though she was trying to remember something.

"Perhaps you'd rather–"

"No."

"How about if I–"

"No."

"You didn't even let me fini–"

"No!"

Hiei slowly edged away from Botan, who turned on the spot to follow his movement, each keeping their eyes on the other.

"Maybe I'm trying to tell you that–"

"No, stop! Just leave me alone!"

Hiei briskly marched away from Botan, only breaking stride when Kurama stepped into his path and he was forced to stop to avoid walking straight into the fox demon.

"What did Botan say to you?" Kurama asked him.

"She asked me if I wanted to watch her shave her legs in a bath-tub," Hiei replied.

"What?" Kurama echoed.

"I don't know either," Hiei said, before stepping around Kurama and continuing on his way.

Kurama turned around, watching Hiei with a displeased scowl: he had, on occasion, secretly imagined watching Botan in a bath of soapy water, her hair tied up scrappily about her head, slowly dragging a razor along the length of her slender, wet legs. It was quite a demonic thought, and Kurama would never have dared voice it to Botan for fear that she would be repulsed by it; but now suddenly she was offering to perform that very act for Hiei's benefit.

"Botan!" he said, reaching out a hand to stop her as she tried to pass him.

"I was talking to Hiei," she abruptly answered, attempting to move past him.

Kurama moved to block her progress and she finally looked directly at him.

"Can I ask why?" he asked.

"Why what?" she asked, peering over his shoulder anxiously.

"Why are you chasing after Hiei? You should be more careful, you know how he dislikes company and conversation."

Botan slowly moved her eyes to Kurama, and he could immediately tell by the way her eyes searched his and she chewed tentatively on her lip that she was hiding something.

"Perhaps you should talk to me instead?" he suggested.

"Well, there is one small thing, but Keiko didn't think we should tell anyone else, and I especially wouldn't want Hiei to find out, although maybe you ought to know, since it does sort of concern you..."

Kurama slowly narrowed his eyes.

"It's about Yukina," Botan whispered, leaning closer to him.

"I'm listening," he replied, using the moment as an excuse to lean closer to her.

"Well, I think she might have a little bit of a crush on you."

Kurama laughed.

"Oh Botan, you have such a wicked sense of humour for a deity of spirit world!" he said.

Botan shook her head.

"I'm not joking, Kurama!" she said.

"Please Botan, this is absurd," Kurama replied, sobering slightly. "Yukina is incapable of having a "crush" on anyone, and even if she ever did develop such an ability, she would surely give her affections to Kuwabara."

"Well, Keiko and I found evidence in her room that she is capable of having a "crush", and that she gives her affections to you," Botan whispered.

Kurama gave a few short, nervous laughs before fully appreciating the intense and determined look in Botan's pink eyes.

"Botan, this is no laughing matter," he said.

"Exactly!" she hissed. "So stop laughing about it!"

"Did you tell Hiei about this?"

"No, of course not! Oh goodness, can you imagine what would happen if he ever did find out? He would kill you, Kurama! You know how angry he gets when he sees Kuwabara fawning over Yukina, if he knew just how much Yukina has been secretly pining after you, he would torture and slaughter you! He would maim and disfigure you! He would tear you apart, limb by limb! He would–"

"I get the picture, Botan."

"And it wouldn't be a very good idea to say anything to Kuwabara, either. He wouldn't be happy if he thought Yukina was secretly in love with you. He would be so angry, he would probably–"

"I won't say a word, I promise."

"Oh good."

Botan nodded, and, upon seeing the concerned and tense look on Kurama's face she smiled.

"It is a little bit funny though," she whispered to him. "Secretly, you know. She's just a little girl, it's so sweet that she likes you that way, but realistically, it's quite absurd."

"Yes, it is definitely absurd," Kurama agreed. "Where is Yukina anyway?"

"Hiei said she had to go somewhere special."

"Somewhere special? Somewhere so special that Kuwabara can't even locate her?"

"I guess so."

Kurama looked back over his shoulder at the temple, a vague sense that something slightly sinister was afoot passing over him. When he turned back again, Botan had gone and Yusuke and Kuwabara were bickering about something, and so he started towards the temple, intent on finding Hiei, in the hope of encouraging him to return to a healing chamber – because he needed to heal and because Kurama did not want to risk Botan or Keiko accidentally telling Hiei that they thought Yukina had a crush on him.

Hiei was easy to find, the stink of the wild flowers and tree sap he claimed to have fallen into still overpowering and telling – which made Kurama smile, as he realised that Hiei's attempts to make himself indefinable had in fact made him more conspicuous. Kurama's nose led him towards the back of the temple, beyond the room he sometimes slept in when he stayed overnight at the temple, to a long corridor, at the end of which was a stand of three swords, atop of a small table. As Kurama moved towards the stand his smile faded: the largest of the three weapons was missing, and although he had never noticed the display before, closer inspection showed denting and wear that indicated there had been a third weapon there until very recently. Turning to one side, Kurama saw a partially open door, beyond which he could clearly smell Hiei's obnoxiously falsified scent, and a faint trace of the ice village flowers, barely discernible but unmistakable nonetheless. He moved closer to the door and pushed it further open, revealing a small, modest bedroom and one short fire demon with a piece of paper in each hand and a tense, suspicious and borderline irate look in his red eyes.

"Hiei?" Kurama greeted him, stepping through the doorway. "Are you alright?"

"No," Hiei replied, turning the pages in his hands to reveal their contents to Kurama's eyes. "What the hell is this?"

Kurama stopped short: one page was filled with words, clearly written by a feminine hand and in a slightly old-fashioned style, lamenting Kurama's bravery and magnificence, and the other page was an overly detailed sketch of Kurama in his full demon form, the Ojigi plant he had used against Karasu during the Dark Tournament dancing around him.

"I have no idea," Kurama faintly replied.

He knew what it was – obviously it was the "evidence" Botan had referred to about Yukina's apparent feelings for him – but he had no idea what had inspired it or how it had come to be.

"Why would my sister say these things about you if you weren't courting her?"

Kurama flinched involuntarily, the harshness of Hiei's tone and the distinct change in the air around him sending an ominous chill down his spine.

"Hiei, I don't know what to tell you," he said. "This is the first time I've seen any of this, I swear!"

"I didn't ask if you'd seen it before, I asked why it exists," Hiei coldly replied.

"I don't know that either!" Kurama insisted. "I am as shocked as you are to see Yukina express herself this way!"

Hiei threw down the pages onto Yukina's bed and then moved one hand to the bandana across his forehead, easing his cloak back over his hip to expose his sword with his other hand.

"I have ways of finding out if you are being honest with me," he warned. "Which would you prefer: should I cut you or just read your mind?"

"Hiei, you need to calm down," Kurama replied.

"Don't tell me what to do, fox," Hiei growled back.

"We can talk about this without the need for either of us to use force of any kind," Kurama said. "And besides, you know you can't just read my mind."

"I can. If I cut you and weaken you first I can."

Kurama gulped quietly, silently wishing that Yukina was there if only to force her to explain the misunderstanding herself.

"I had no idea Yukina had feelings for me, I promise," he tried. "In fact, I didn't even think it was possible for her to have feelings for anyone – romantic feelings, I mean. I thought the ice maidens were asexual: look at how they reproduce! Hiei, please understand, even if your sister has somehow developed feelings for me, I could never possibly return them. I respect you and Kuwabara too much for that!"

Hiei lowered his hands, his cloak falling over his sword once more.

"Besides Hiei, Yukina is just a child," Kurama continued. "I couldn't take her as a lover even if I wanted to: she could never hope to keep up with me."

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Hiei and Kurama talk about Yukina, Botan demonstrates what she learned from reading "The Beast Whisperer", and, after less than 24 hours of being gentle and kind, Puu starts to misbehave again. **Chapter 9 – Talking Naturally**


	9. Talking Naturally

**Recap:** Koenma dismissed Yusuke and the gang, insisting the SDF would take over handling the invasion of spirit world, Keiko and Botan discovered Yukina has/had a secret crush on Kurama, Kurama thinks Hiei has changed because he is preparing to fight him, Jin confirmed the antidote for the virus has not been perfected yet, Puu chilled out, Botan flirted with Hiei and told Kurama about Yukina's crush and finally Hiei confronted Kurama about the evidence found in her bedroom.

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Talking Naturally**

"Huh, you say that, but these clearly show that she has harboured feelings for you for some time."

"She never made those feelings known to me, or anyone else, as far as I am aware."

"And if she had?"

"I would of course have refused her."

"You're a marginally better option than Kuwabara to be her lover."

"Do you really hate Kuwabara that much?"

"I don't hate him. I just don't understand him."

"Well, that's true..."

"And don't think I'm so naive that I don't know about the history between your kin and mine."

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. Fox demons have a taste for ice maidens, don't they?"

Kurama stumbled into the door, almost taking it from its hinges. He cleared his throat awkwardly and tried to pretend that he had meant to collide with the door, taking hold of it and carefully sliding it closed.

"What makes you say that?" he asked, hiding his apprehension with the ease of a practised dissembler.

"I saw it, once," Hiei quietly replied. "A fox demon – a young one, his hair still dark grey, like that fellow Fumio we met in spirit world – capturing an ice maiden who had strayed from her party during a visit to Arbeinia for supplies. He did... Unspeakable things to her."

Hiei sat down a little abruptly onto the edge of Yukina's bed, his face paling to almost deathly extremes again.

"Yes, that is something many fox demons do," Kurama admitted.

"You never did that," Hiei replied, his eyes lowered and his tone mildly anxious.

"You're wrong, because I did do that," Kurama said.

Hiei's head snapped up and his pupils contracted fearfully as his eyes met Kurama's.

"It's not something I'm proud of, but it is the truth," Kurama continued.

"That fox, he... He was hurting her," Hiei said quietly.

"I would have done the same, had I ever managed to catch an ice maiden for myself."

Hiei frowned, a little of the tension easing from his face.

"Don't get me wrong, I may never have violated one of your people, but it was not for the want of trying," Kurama explained.

"You think that sort of behaviour is just?" Hiei asked.

"Of course not," Kurama softly replied. "Not now, anyway. Do you think it's just?"

"I don't know," Hiei replied, lowering his head again. "I don't know what to think."

Kurama slowly crossed the room, watching Hiei carefully as he did so. When Hiei kept his head down and maintained his tormented and slightly childlike expression, Kurama dared to sit down next to him. Due to the position of the nightstand, Kurama was forced to sit very close to Hiei, their hips touching slightly: but Hiei did not respond to the contact made as Kurama joined him.

"You said you witnessed a fox demon catching an ice maiden," Kurama said quietly. "You've never mentioned that before."

"I try not to think about it," Hiei replied, clutching his hands into fists over his knees, bunching up the fabric of his pants.

"Perhaps you feel guilty," Kurama suggested. "When the ice maidens cast you out, you felt angry and you wanted them to suffer pain as you had, but perhaps when you saw them suffer you realised what you did when you finally found the ice village for yourself: they are hollow, unfeeling creatures, and worthy of nothing more than your pity."

"She was crying. She was begging him to stop. He said he wouldn't silence her because he wanted to listen to her scream. He did terrible things to her, and her death was slow and perverse."

"Most fox demons only seek ice maidens for sex. Most walk away after that, very few actually kill."

"I watched most of it. I did nothing."

"How did that make you feel?"

"Evil. Those women, they made me feel dirty and evil and corrupt and displaced and unwelcome, and when I saw the fox catch one of them, I thought she was getting what she deserved. I could have helped her. I could have done something, but I didn't, I just stood there and watched. And once he had torn her apart completely and no longer had a use for any part of her, I fled."

"You could have helped. But the ice maidens could have helped you before that. They chose to cast you out of their clan, and as such, you owe them nothing."

"I didn't flee because I thought she deserved it, I fled because I was scared. I didn't even want to watch, but I was so scared, I couldn't move. I was paralysed by fear. I hate that more than anything else."

Kurama carefully rested a hand on Hiei's shoulder, but again Hiei did not respond.

"I know you're not a coward," he said.

"But isn't that the absolute measure of bravery? If someone is confronted with a conflict, isn't it how they react that determines the integrity and courage of that soul? Some will fight, some will try to bring peace and some will just run away. I chose to run away: doesn't that make me a coward?"

"Only if you think it does. Let's be honest: you could never have hoped to prevail in a battle against an adult fox demon, young or otherwise. That fox would have been significantly stronger and wiser than you, and he would have killed you. Surely picking battles wisely is just as much a sign of a soul's integrity?"

"But if we really believe something, shouldn't we fight for it regardless? Picking and choosing how and when we fight for it seems cowardly to me."

"I think you're being too hard on yourself."

Kurama paused, suddenly aware that his hand had slid across Hiei's shoulders, and he now had his arm around his friend. Hiei was still leaning forwards, his hands gripping at his knees and his head down, and so Kurama decided just to remain as he was.

"Botan found those things under Yukina's bed, didn't she?" Hiei asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I believe so, yes," Kurama replied.

"I don't like that," Hiei said, his voice no louder but his tone slightly harsher. "Yukina left the ice village to be free of tyranny, I don't like it that she is subjected to it here."

"This can hardly be described as tyranny," Kurama said. "Botan found some poetry and sketches your sister made: why is that a problem?"

"The ice maidens controlled everything in Yukina's life, if the interfering women in living world are going to do the exact same thing by scouring through her belongings and mocking her when she isn't around to defend herself, how is this life any different for her?"

"Yukina is much better off here, you know that."

"But she's still being controlled. It's still a form of tyranny."

"Botan was acting out of kindness and concern."

"Whether the motivations are good or bad, isn't any form of control just tyranny and oppression? Whether it's done with fear and violence or jokes and pleasantness, it amounts to the same thing."

Kurama tilted his head slightly in the hope of catching a glimpse of Hiei's face, but failing to see his expression through his hair and shoulder hunched over by the side of his head.

"I had no idea you cared about such matters so extensively," he said. "Clearly you've given this a lot of thought."

"Some days it's all I think about," Hiei quietly replied.

"I think you might be over-thinking it," Kurama said. "I think you worry too much about your sister, and you shouldn't. She's well looked after here, and her friends are just supporting her, not controlling her. It's difficult for you to understand it because you prize your freedom and independence so greatly, and to you it probably seems like Yukina is restricted here. You should remember though that she doesn't feel as you do, she isn't capable of such passion."

"Passion?"

"I mean intensity of feeling. Your anger – and any other emotions you ever have – is all-consuming. Ice maidens aren't like that. They feel nothing."

Hiei's hands slowly opened out, his bandaged fingers spreading outwards. He sighed quietly and then stood abruptly, Kurama's arm falling from his shoulders. Kurama thought his friend was about to say something else or to argue further about the welfare of his sister, but instead he crossed the room, slid open the door, and walked out into the hallway beyond.

"Hiei?" Kurama called after him.

Hiei paused long enough to give Kurama a listless look over one shoulder before continuing on his way. Kurama watched him disappear from view, his eyes lingering on the open doorway for some time afterwards, partially expecting to see Hiei return there. Once he was sure that Hiei had left completely, Kurama picked up the pages Hiei had discarded, looking at each one carefully. It seemed that Yukina had been studying him quite carefully from afar for some time, and he felt a little silly for having never noticed it before: but more than that, he was shocked that Hiei was not more angered about it. Perhaps once he recovered from the virus Hiei might react differently.

* * *

"I'm telling you Yusuke, that bird tried to kill me!" Botan insisted.

"This little guy?" Yusuke asked, pointing a finger at Puu, who was resting his head on Yusuke's shoulder lovingly.

"He's not little, and yes, he did try to kill me!" Botan retorted indignantly.

"But Puu's never tried to hurt anyone," Yusuke pointed out. "What is it Shizuru calls him? The fudge-ball?"

"He used to be a fudge-ball, but then he grew into a super-sized vulture of doom!"

"Calm down, Botan!"

"He threw me from the sky several times! You didn't see his eyes; they were glowing with furious wrath!"

"Now I know you're exaggerating…"

"Keiko saw it too!"

"Nobody's been feeding the poor guy. Even spirit beasts gotta eat."

"Why are you not even remotely concerned about any of this?"

"Because I don't believe it."

"Not even when Keiko tells you?"

"I think you made her believe Puu was possessed and I think you scared her so much with your exaggerated stories that she thought you were right."

"Now you're the one being ridiculous!"

"I also think you need to get a hobby or something…"

Botan glared at Yusuke, but he merely shrugged in response, one hand still casually stroking Puu's neck as the spirit beast cuddled onto his shoulder. Botan moved her eyes to Puu, who had his eyes closed, his ears drooped loosely at the sides of his head, and he was even making small, contented purring noises.

"You're making me look like a liar, Puu!" she yelled.

Puu ignored her completely and Yusuke merely raised an eyebrow at her. Frustrated to the point of rage, Botan turned from them both and stomped away, moving in no particular direction other than away from Yusuke and Puu. She kept going until she had entered the forest, slowing once she got there because she had inadvertently taken herself to the steep slope on one side of the temple steps. After losing a sandal to Puu, she was wearing brand new sandals that had not quite been comfortably worn in yet, and that, combined with the uneven ground and steep drop, meant that she shortly lost her balance, stumbling a few steps down the slope before gravity took over and she began to fall.

Botan grunted as her weight caught against her armpits, her body sagging downwards from that point. She lifted her head curiously, finding that someone had hooked their arms under hers, saving her before she had hit the ground. She quickly found her footing again and straightened up, pulling her arms back from her rescuer.

"Oh," she said as she saw just who had come to her aid. "What are you doing out here?"

"I came out here to be alone," Hiei answered her.

"Oh."

Hiei ran his eyes over her, his face as devoid of emotion as ever.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Um, yes, thank you," she slowly replied. "I mean thank you for catching me and thank you for asking if I was alright."

"That's fine," he said. "You shouldn't come this way, it's dangerous. Use the steps next time."

"Right, that's good advice," Botan agreed.

Hiei eyed her over again, his face still relatively blank.

"I'll walk you to the steps," he concluded.

"Oh, that would be lovely!" Botan replied.

She turned towards the steps and almost fell over again when she felt Hiei take hold of her hand. Too confused to argue, she moved along with him as he guided her around the trees and along the most solid and secure parts of the forest floor. Once they had reached the steps he promptly released her hand, holding his hand out in front of himself towards the forest path far below them.

"There you go," he said, looking down the steps as he spoke. "Don't stray from this route again. I might not be there to catch you next time."

Botan smiled and bumped her hip playfully against Hiei's side, earning herself a surprised and disgusted look from the fire demon.

"Oh, you!" she said, rolling her eyes. "Mister tough guy who doesn't want anyone to know that he's really a big softy!"

"Don't ever assume to understand what I'm thinking, how I feel or what my motivations are," Hiei warned her in a low voice.

"Must you always talk like that?" she asked. "Like you're so dark and dangerous."

"I am more dark and dangerous than you could ever know," he replied.

"Oh really?"

"Absolutely."

"You're a real bad boy, aren't you?"

Hiei adopted a lop-sided smile, a sparkle of amusement passing over his eyes.

"I'm a very bad boy," he replied. "Very, very bad."

Botan licked her lips and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Why did you say that?" she asked.

"Because it's true," he replied.

"Don't you know how badly that makes me want you?"

"…What?"

"Oh Hiei, ravish me!"

"What the–?"

Botan threw herself at Hiei, cutting him off mid-sentence. He was tensed and stiff in her forced embrace, and she could clearly feel his hands and elbows pushing into her stomach in an attempt to block her affections; but she was unfazed by his attempts, and persevered, squeezing him in a hug that threatened to suffocate him, holding him as close as she possibly could and leaning over him. He squirmed in her hold and tried to shirk away from her, turning his head as she tried to kiss him, but again she overlooked his rejection, and instead of letting go, she decided to try something else she had read in "The Beast Whisperer" – since offering to let him watch her shave her legs had not worked.

Hiei yelped out and stopped all movement as the tip of Botan's tongue managed to reach his ear. She dragged her tongue up and around, tracing the outer edge of his ear, and for a brief moment during the contact she clearly heard him give a small, soft moan and tilt his head slightly towards her. She smiled as she withdrew her tongue, finding Hiei looking uncharacteristically large-eyed in her arms.

"I'm yours," she whispered into his ear. "You can do whatever you want with me."

"Get away from me!" he yelled, pushing her off and leaping up three steps to put some distance between them.

"Nobody has to know," she said, turning to face him.

He looked like a scalded cat – drenched (in sweat), tense, wide-eyed, fearful of another attack and ready to pounce or flee at any moment.

"Let's be lovers," she added.

"What?" Hiei echoed.

Botan tugged at the ties of her obi and Hiei's eyes almost popped out of his head.

"What are you doing?" he yelped. "No! Stop! Don't do that!"

"I thought you'd like it if I was bold," she replied, smiling suggestively.

"No!" he insisted. "No, no, no! You can't! I can't! We can't! What about Kurama?"

"What about Kurama?"

Hiei faltered slightly, his eyes wandering from Botan's. He pressed shaking fingers to his hairline, pushing away the sweat forming there and his mouth twitched several times before he managed to respond.

"He has feelings for you," he said.

"Oh no, that's just a rumour Keiko started," Botan replied. "Don't worry, I'm not interested in Kurama. I know he's your friend, and I promise, I would never do anything to come between you."

"You're coming between us right now!" Hiei snapped. "Fickle, frivolous, flighty feline!"

"No, I'm not, I promise! I'm not interested in Kurama, and he's not interested in me – and even if he was, he's not my type."

"This is very midsummer madness…"

"…What?"

Hiei tugged at his scarf awkwardly, exposing each side of his neck in turn to the air.

"Botan, you need to think about this sensibly," he said. "Kurama longs for you the way you long for… You licked my ear!"

Hiei pressed a hand to his ear and glowered at Botan accusingly.

"You enjoyed it, didn't you?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

"Yes, but that's not the point!" he snapped.

He gasped then, his free hand covering his mouth.

"No, wait, that is the point!" he corrected himself. "That's exactly the point!"

"I've been studying the arts of pleasuring a demon lover," Botan said, moving up a step towards Hiei.

"Why would you study that?" he asked, backing up a step.

"So that I could seduce you of course," she replied, moving up another step.

"You don't want to do that, Botan."

"Why not?"

"Because you're not going to like what you find if you try to put your hands on me again."

"I love it when you talk dirty."

Hiei yelped and scurried out of Botan's reach as she lurched at him, trying to once more grab him into her arms.

"Botan, you need to stop what you're doing!" he warned her, stumbling backwards away from her as he spoke.

"But why?" she asked, starting after him.

"Because… Kurama likes you, and it would ruin our friendship if you and I became romantically involved!"

Botan paused, something about the wording of Hiei's response seeming slightly suspicious, and Hiei capitalised on her moment of distraction by turning and running away. She only noticed his hasty retreat at the moment he reached the front porch of the temple, and by the time she had called out his name, he had already disappeared from sight inside the temple. She sighed and let her shoulders slouch forwards in defeat.

"First Lord Koenma won't tell me what's going on in spirit world, then the boys won't let me go on an adventure with them, then Puu tries to kill me only to turn all sweet and innocent again in front of Yusuke to make me look like a neurotic liar and now Hiei's being all difficult…" she grumbled as she stomped across the lawn. "I'll find a way to your heart, Hiei…"

* * *

"What are you glaring at?"

"I can't breathe, Hiei!"

"It's a manly smell, you have no reason to dispute it."

Yusuke bared his teeth and angrily skewered a piece of omelette with his chopsticks. Kuwabara joined them, looking confused and mildly disgusted.

"Hey, did somebody pour my aftershave down the kitchen sink?" he asked, shaking an empty glass bottle in the air. "I'm sure it was half-full before we went to demon world, but now there's none left, and I can smell it in here!"

"Hime borrowed some for his hot date tonight," Yusuke sarcastically replied, frowning at Hiei as he spoke. "But just like with everything else, he needs to learn portion control."

Kuwabara stopped by the table Yusuke and Hiei were sitting at.

"Why did you want to smell like me?" he asked, eying Hiei over suspiciously.

"Damn it, and I was hungry, too," Yusuke muttered, throwing down his chopsticks and pushing out his chair.

"Where are you going?" Hiei asked him.

"I'm going to throw up," Yusuke flatly replied. "You wanna watch?"

"You cooked this yourself, if it's not to your liking, you only have yourself to blame," Hiei said, waving a hand at the food on the table.

Yusuke groaned and moved away from the table. Kuwabara watched him go before turning back to Hiei, who by then had started eating again.

"Shouldn't you be tree surfing in demon world right about now?" Kuwabara asked.

"I intend to go to demon world," Hiei replied.

"Good. And don't ever touch my stuff again. That was expensive, and I need it for when Yukina gets back!"

Kuwabara sat down and began helping himself to food, ignoring the way Hiei was watching him from across the table. The two sat together in awkward silence for several minutes until they were joined by Botan, who nodded a greeting at Kuwabara before doing a distinct double-take at Hiei. She smiled as she eyed him over, moving around the table and sitting down into the seat Yusuke had not long vacated.

"Did everyone sleep well last night?" she asked.

"Not really," Kuwabara replied. "I tried looking for Yukina again, and I can't find her anywhere."

"That's nice," Botan said disinterestedly.

"No it's not! It's horrible!" Kuwabara said.

Hiei lurched in his seat before fixing his eyes onto Botan. He looked angry, and she was almost certain the look he was giving her was a non-verbal death-threat, but she persevered and pressed the ball of her foot more firmly against his shin beneath the table.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm okay, I suppose," she said through a sigh, sliding her foot up towards his knee. "How are you doing?"

"I asked what, not how," he corrected her.

"I hope you don't have to go back to demon world too soon," she said.

"You're not even listening to me."

"You should stay. At least until Yukina comes back. She likes to cook for us all, and she is a wonderful cook, you should stay and dine with us."

"Huh, what makes you think Yukina will be back here today?"

"If she's not back until tomorrow, you could always spend another night here…"

Hiei dropped his chopsticks and his eyes doubled in size as Botan's foot began gliding up the inside of his thigh.

"So Yukina's coming back today?" Kuwabara asked Botan.

"Probably," she replied, her eyes never leaving Hiei as she continued to work her foot up his leg.

"Good," Kuwabara said. "I hope she makes beef teriyaki. Did you know she cooks it differently for everyone? She cooks mine until it's soft and flaky. What about you Botan? How do you like yours?"

"Tender and juicy…" Botan purred, thrusting her foot forwards.

Hiei grunted and flinched as Botan dragged her toes up and down his crotch.

"And surprisingly firm…" she added under her breath.

"I have to go," Hiei said suddenly, scraping his chair back until he was beyond the reach of Botan's foot.

He stood up, glanced at Kuwabara, who was looking at him as though he was insane, and Botan, who was playing her fingers over her lips provocatively as she watched him, and then he turned and dashed out of the room. Hiei kept running until he heard Kurama call his name, at which point he skidded to a halt and turned around, finding Kurama moving towards him.

"Wait, I want to accompany you back," Kurama said.

"Alright," Hiei agreed.

"Please don't be so offensive, it's not that I think you're incapable of finding your own way home, it's really only because I want to find out if a cure has been found for the virus yet, and to understand just how hectic things are at Mukuro's headquarters."

"Okay."

"Really, I just… Wait, what?"

"Okay, I'll wait."

Kurama frowned slightly and made to ask Hiei something, but was cut off by Botan joining them.

"Oh, are you leaving already?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid we must Botan," Kurama answered her. "I need to take Hiei back to be cured, but as soon as I know that he is safe and healing sufficiently, I will return here, and–"

"I want to do something for you before you go," she cut him off.

"That's not necessary," he assured her. "I'll be back shortly, and we can–"

"I want to heal you."

Hiei leapt back as Botan reached out for him.

"What are you talking about?" Kurama asked her.

"Hiei hurt himself earlier this morning, and he was having trouble stopping the bleeding," Botan explained. "I thought maybe I should heal it for him."

Kurama moved his eyes to Hiei, who shrugged and shook his head.

"I have no idea what she's talking about," he said.

"This morning, at sunrise," Botan said. "I saw you! You were out on the edge of the lawn. Your finger was bleeding and you were trying to wipe it off onto a piece of cloth."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Hiei snapped.

"I saw you, Hiei," Botan said gently. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. Just let me heal it for you."

"I don't need your healing powers, Botan."

"Maybe you should let Botan take a look, at least," Kurama suggested.

Hiei glanced back and forth between Botan and Kurama before growling in annoyance.

"Alright," he said. "I'll show you my finger, if only to prove to you that you're making this up!"

He angrily unpicked the bandaging around the tip of his right index finger, exposing it entirely before holding it up and showing Kurama and Botan both sides.

"Oh, how strange…" Botan muttered. "It looked like you had cut it very deeply earlier…"

"Well now you can see that you were wrong, so please leave us be," Hiei replied, wrapping up his finger again.

"Wait," Kurama said, grabbing Hiei's wrist.

Hiei stopped, his eyes lifting to Kurama questioningly. Kurama's face remained solemn and he pulled Hiei's hand forwards, the bandaging falling loose again around his finger.

"You say Botan lied about seeing your finger bleeding?" Kurama asked.

"Obviously, yes," Hiei replied, curling and uncurling his finger to demonstrate his point.

"If she was lying, how did you know which finger she was referring to?"

Hiei faltered slightly, his eyes falling to his finger.

"You can't have read her mind if your jagan is failing you," Kurama added.

"That is the finger I saw bleeding," Botan said, pointing at Hiei's bared finger.

"It was a lucky guess," Hiei said, yanking his hand out of Kurama's grip. "If it had been the wrong finger, she would have corrected me, but she didn't, so I continued, assuming I had guessed correctly the first time around."

"That seems a little too convenient," Kurama said. "I think maybe–"

"You'll come back to see us soon, won't you Hiei?" Botan interrupted.

"Yes," he replied, his eyes on his finger as he meticulously wound the bandaging around it again.

"To see Yukina, of course," Botan said.

"We have to get Hiei treated first," Kurama reminded her.

"Of course, I understand," Botan agreed.

"Let's go," Hiei said to Kurama.

"How about a kiss before you go?" Botan said. "Just for, you know, luck."

"I don't have a problem with that," Kurama said, smiling at her.

"Kurama says it's alright," she said to Hiei.

"I'm not alright with it," Hiei nervously answered.

"So close your eyes," Kurama snapped at him.

"I don't think that will help," Hiei said.

"It's more fun if you close your eyes during a kiss," Botan said.

"Oh, I see," Kurama said.

Hiei's eyes widened as Kurama and Botan both closed their eyes and leaned forwards, Kurama moving towards Botan and Botan moving towards Hiei. Hiei shirked away from Botan, keeping himself out of her reach until both she and Kurama seemed to reach the point where they realised something was amiss, and both opened their eyes again, Kurama frowning curiously at the back of Botan's head and Botan pouting dejectedly at Hiei.

"We have to go now," Hiei insisted. "So long Botan."

He spun on his heels and hurriedly moved towards the front door. Kurama turned to Botan, who shrugged.

"I'll be back," he said.

"Okay," she said.

"But I have to go for now," he said.

"Okay."

"Well, goodbye then."

Kurama hesitated, waiting for Botan to say something, but instead she simply looked back at him blankly. He eventually sighed and moved on, exiting the temple with the expectation of finding Hiei waiting on the porch for him: but apparently his impatience had once again gotten the better of him, because Hiei was nowhere to be seen. Kurama began crossing the lawn towards the temple gate, believing that Hiei had gone in that direction, starting his journey back to demon world; but when he reached the gate, peering down the temple steps, he saw no sign of Hiei. He paused, silently wondering if Hiei had decided to run and was already too far away to be seen, or if he had even come that way at all. He began looking about himself for any indication that Hiei may have taken a different path, shortly sighting Hiei jogging across the lawn towards him.

"Where were you?" Kurama asked as Hiei neared him.

"I had to do something over there," Hiei replied, wiping the heel of his hand over the sweating strip of skin at his hairline.

"You're still bothered by your fever?" Kurama asked him.

"It's just so hot," Hiei replied. "It's stifling being like this all the time."

"I can imagine. Let's just get you back to Mukuro."

"Yes, I should really go there."

Hiei and Kurama looked at each other, both looking slightly confused.

"Right, so let's go," Kurama said, pointing down the steps.

"Of course," Hiei agreed, stepping closer to his side.

They looked at each other a little longer before both starting their descent towards the lower part of the forest.

"I suppose after this you will return to your human life in the city," Hiei said as they walked.

"Yes, that's right," Kurama replied. "Did you expect me to do anything else?"

"No, I just wondered how you excuse yourself for escapades like this one," Hiei said. "Surely the humans around you in your life in the city notice your absence."

"Are you asking me what I tell my mother, step-father, step-brother and school when I have to take time away to tend to demon world related matters?"

"Yes."

"Do you care?"

"Yes."

"You never have before. You hate that I continue to live as a human."

"I don't hate it, I just… Don't understand it."

"No, you don't."

"I'm just curious."

"Well, if that's true, then I shall oblige: I told my family I was spending some time at another university in another part of the country as part of a project, and I told my school I had family matters to attend to."

"Do you ever worry that they might find out you lied?"

"No."

"Oh… Do you ever get lonely?"

Kurama stumbled slightly, almost losing his balance and falling down the remainder of the steps but for Hiei grabbing his arm to steady him.

"That's a very strange question for you to ask," he said as he allowed Hiei to help him find his balance again.

"I just wondered," Hiei replied. "Sometimes I get lonely. I thought you might too."

"I have friends who understand my circumstances, which makes it much easier," Kurama said. "Though before that, when my human body was still maturing, I often felt quite isolated. My human mother was the only soul I felt close to, and even then only after I saw her injure herself to save me. I'm surprised that you feel lonely though. I thought you liked being alone."

"I thought I did too."

Kurama nodded slowly before walking on again. Hiei moved along in pace with him, and for a short while both remained silent.

"Companionship is sometimes a difficult thing to find," Kurama eventually said. "But I have good friends, and I think there is one person in particular I would like to call more than just my friend."

"Me too," Hiei replied.

"You admit that you have friends now?"

"…It's not that I really feel close to any of them. It's not like how it is between you and Yusuke and Kuwabara. But… I appreciate their presence."

"And you're considering forming a partnership with someone in your acquaintance?"

"We're not acquaintances. Acquaintance is not the right word to describe our current relationship."

"That's no fun."

Hiei turned to Kurama, screwing up his face when he saw that the fox demon was smiling at him.

"I had hoped it was someone we both knew," he explained. "But if it's not one of your current acquaintances, how can I even begin to guess who it is?"

"How indeed."

Kurama's smile vanished but Hiei turned from him and began to walk faster, moving ahead of him. Kurama jogged a few steps to catch up to Hiei again.

"I was just making a joke," he said as he rejoined his friend. "I thought that could be our game to pass the time on the journey back: I could try to guess who might have made you open up enough to call others "friends"."

Hiei said nothing and Kurama took his silence to mean that he was no longer angry about having possibly let some feeling other than hate show: but, he thought, if Hiei did not want to talk, the remainder of the journey was going to be quite long and trying.

* * *

"I'm going back to that hospital bus, are you coming with me?"

Kuwabara paused, his mouth open and his hand hovering in the air in front of him supporting part of his breakfast.

"Those doctors aren't working fast enough," Yusuke added. "I'm going back there to give them some motivation."

He cracked his knuckles and wiggled his eyebrows, and Kuwabara slowly closed his mouth and lowered his hand again.

"Back to demon world?" he asked.

"No, back to Disney World," Yusuke sarcastically replied. "Of course back to demon world! Now are you coming with me or not?"

"Do you need me to come with you?" Kuwabara asked.

"If you don't wanna go, just say so," Yusuke said. "I'm leaving now, either get up or shut-up."

"Well, if you don't actually need me, if there's really nothing to be done, I'd like to stay here."

"Okay fine!"

"It's not that I'm being unhelpful, it's just that Botan said Yukina is coming back today, so I was gonna wait here for her."

"Whatever. Tell Yukina to keep my dinner warm, I might be late."

"Sure."

Yusuke turned around to leave the room, almost walking straight into Botan, who was standing unreasonably close behind him.

"I could come with you!" she offered, smiling radiantly.

"Don't you have roadkill to abduct right about now?" Yusuke muttered, trying to move around her.

"I could help you!" she insisted, stepping from side to side to stop him from passing her.

"I don't think so," he replied.

"Well I could! I could be really useful and helpful and maybe I could make a difference, if you would just give me a chance!"

Yusuke stopped trying to step past Botan and instead stood still before her, studying the eager and almost obnoxiously optimistic look on her face.

"There is one thing you could do to help me," he said quietly.

"Whatever it is, I'll do it just as good as Kuwabara could!" Botan assured him.

"Move!" he yelled.

She yelped in fright and he capitalised on her confusion to slip past her and out of the room.

"That's not fair, Yusuke!" she shrieked, running after him.

"Seriously Botan, like Koenma said, demon world problems and spirit world problems are two different things," he said as he marched towards the front door with Botan skipping along at his side.

"But not this time!" she pointed out. "Aren't the two worlds both having problems at the same time and probably because of the same thing?"

Yusuke stopped, his hand on the front door.

"You could go to spirit world and find out if the SDF are handling the problem there," he said, casting Botan a sideward glance.

"I can do that!" she cheerfully replied. "I can absolutely do that!"

"Good," he said. "So do it already."

"Right!"

Yusuke slid open the door and stepped outside.

"What is the problem in spirit world?"

He stopped, looking back over his shoulder.

"You don't know?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Some demons broke in and built a really crappy little castle with mazes and some guy named Fabio is guarding it," Yusuke explained. "Koenma told us to just find the breach the demons were using to access spirit world, and when we found it, he made us leave. The SDF came and closed the breach in demon world, and they thought they could handle the demons in spirit world."

"Demons created a direct link from demon world to spirit world?" Botan asked.

"Yes."

"But that could have been catastrophic!"

"It was, it created a super virus in demon world. That's why Hiei is sick."

"Oh no! But… What if you get sick too?"

"I'm immune to the virus, and so are Kurama and Kuwabara. We don't know why. Some doctors in demon world took blood from me and Kurama to make a cure for the virus, and I'm going back there to make sure they've finished it and started giving it out."

"That's terrible!"

"Yeah, the virus is bad, but I still think what's in spirit world is worse. If you really wanna help me, go to spirit world and spy on the SDF. If it looks like they can't handle it, call me."

Yusuke pulled a communication mirror from his pocket and Botan nodded.

"Since I'm the only one going back, I'm taking Puu," he added.

"Oh good!" Botan said, laughing nervously.

"Damn it Botan, stop acting like Puu's crazy!"

Yusuke shook his head and moved on, exiting the temple and crossing the lawn towards Puu's barn. As he got closer to his destination he began calling for his spirit beast, expecting the bird to meet him halfway: but he did not catch sight of Puu until he reached the barn.

"What are you doing down there?" Yusuke asked, stopping in front of Puu, who was lying a little awkwardly on the ground just outside of the barn doors, "Come on, I need your help."

Puu looked up at him with that same, sulky look he had been wearing when Koenma had first asked Yusuke and the others for assistance earlier that week.

"Puu?" Yusuke said. "Come on, let's go already!"

Puu lifted his head slightly and opened his beak.

"Stop yawning, and let's go!" Yusuke scolded him.

Puu opened his beak soundlessly again and Yusuke began to lose his patience.

"Are you still sulking because Yukina isn't here to fluff your feathers every five minutes?" he snapped. "You're supposed to be a reflection of me, and you're making me look bad acting like this! This is your last chance Puu: are you coming with me or not?"

Puu opened his beak so wide his eyes were forced shut and Yusuke could see every detail of his oesophagus.

"Fine, I'll go by myself," Yusuke groaned. "Stupid bird…"

He turned and stomped off again, crossing the lawn again until he reached the temple gate, where Botan was waiting for him.

"Is everything okay?" she asked as he joined her.

"Puu's sulking again," he replied. "I guess he's still pissed off that Yukina isn't here right now."

"I hope he doesn't start trying to kill me again…" she said warily.

"Puu wouldn't kill anyone Botan, stop exaggerating!"

"I'm not exaggerating! You didn't see the murderous glint in his eyes when he was forcing me out of the sky!"

"Puu never forced you out of the sky, Botan!"

"How do you know, were you there?"

"I don't need to be, he – oh, looks like he's changed his mind."

Botan turned around to look in the direction Yusuke was, and both watched as Puu flew low across the lawn towards them.

"Hey buddy, let's go!" Yusuke said, waving a hand at him.

When Puu did not slow down, Yusuke's hand started to wilt in the air. When he took on a distinctly angered look, Botan summoned her oar and Yusuke tensed, but before either could act, Puu's wing clipped Botan's shoulder and knocked her over, and his beak bit into Yusuke's shirt, lifting him from the ground.

"Hey!" Yusuke yelled in protest. "When I said I needed your help, this wasn't what I had in mind, Puu!"

Puu carried him into the trees a short distance before dropping him and landing beside him. Yusuke rolled to his feet and began dusting himself off, scowling at the spirit beast as he did so.

"You see, he's started being evil Puu again!" Botan said, hurrying over to Yusuke's side.

Yusuke started to tell her she was being ridiculous, but stopped short when Puu jabbed his beak into a pile of dirt and leaves and then threw his head back up into the air, spraying debris all around him.

"Why is he more cuckoo and less eagle?" he asked instead.

"I don't know, but there's no reasoning with him when he gets like this!" Botan replied.

"Hey! Puu!" Yusuke yelled, making Botan flinch at his side. "Get over here and let's go!"

Puu looked over at him, his face and beak layered with a dusting of mud, pine needles and dead leaves. Yusuke waved a hand at him and he seemed to come to his senses, moving away from the mess he had created and joining Yusuke.

"We're going to demon world," Yusuke told him. "And we need to get there fast."

He climbed up onto Puu's back and waved to Botan, ignoring her hysterical warnings she was trying to shout up to him. Puu took to the air, rising upwards almost too steeply, forcing Yusuke to grab at his feathers to hold on.

"Okay, that's high enough now, I don't think anyone will see us up here," Yusuke shouted to him as they passed through the clouds. "Now just turn right a bit, and let's go."

Puu started to turn right, but did not stop at the point he ought to have, and again Yusuke had to grab on to stop himself from falling as Puu arced around in the air and began to nosedive towards the point he had just flown up from. Yusuke saw Botan mount her oar and flee the scene, and he cursed her for not coming up to rescue him.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Yeah, in the next chapter this story turns into a sprawling epping epic… Hiei and Kurama's journey to Mukuro's is interrupted and find themselves lumbered with an unexpected burden that means they have to change their plans. Yusuke tries to figure out what's wrong with Puu, and finds out that a cure to the virus has finally been found – but unfortunately it's a rather controversial one. And then Hiei becomes a babysitter and Kurama attends a very disturbing auction in a street market. Seriously. **Chapter 10 – Tightening Noose**


	10. Tightening Noose

**A/N:** My chapter titles are getting increasingly tenuous… But the good news is that the "adventure" is starting now.

I could now go on a rant about the difference between a hero and protagonist in a story, and why I prefer the latter in reading and my writing, but I'll spare you all and summarise thus: lots of dramatic and action-packed stuff must happen that challenges everything the protagonist(s) ever thought to be true.

 **Recap:** Hiei and Kurama spoke about Yukina's apparent feelings for Kurama, Botan went to desperate measures to seduce Hiei, creating an awkward three-way tension (Kurama wants Botan, Botan wants Hiei, and Hiei doesn't know what he wants). Puu was acting very strangely and even turned on Yusuke!

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Tightening Noose**

"Were you in a lot of pain?"

"When?"

"When you first entered your human body. The spirit world soldiers had mortally wounded you, that was how you were able to enter living world and take over that body, wasn't it?"

"Um, yes, that's right."

"You couldn't have entered living world before, you were too powerful, the Kakai Barrier would have stopped you."

"Yes, that is true."

"So you must have been in a lot of pain when you first entered that body?"

"Physical pain wasn't the issue. I was in shock, and couldn't feel very much towards the end, and when I entered this body, it was still just a growing foetus, so physical pain was no longer an issue anyway."

"Oh, I see. It must have been difficult though to have the intelligence and ambition of a long-lived A Class demon contained within the body of a helpless human child."

Kurama nodded and quietly sighed under his breath. Hiei's interest in his past – more specifically, Hiei's interest in his transition from demon to human – had come as quite a surprise, but suddenly he was starting to see where it had stemmed from.

"You wouldn't have done it," he said.

"I wouldn't have done what?" Hiei asked, looking up at him with that slightly bewildered and wide-eyed look his illness had made prevalent on his face.

"You would rather have died with dignity," Kurama replied. "Like Fumio."

"I'm nothing like Fumio," Hiei immediately replied.

"But you consider the decision I made to have been one of weakness. A snap decision, made out of fear. I chose life over my own pride, whereas you, when placed in the same situation, did the opposite."

"You don't know that. I've never died."

"Well, not exactly died as such, but you thought you were killing yourself when you fought Shigure. You told me as much, and even Mukuro herself has mentioned it to me. You knowingly and willingly cut off your own arm and let yourself take a mortal blow for the sake of your own pride. You chose to die with dignity, whereas I chose to live a coward."

"Dying at the hands of someone wearing plastic knee-guards and shoulder-pads could never be considered dignified."

Kurama laughed, at first assuming Hiei had – as he quite often did – said something unintentionally amusing: but when he looked down at Hiei and saw him smiling, the worrying thought occurred to him that the fire demon had actually just deliberately made a joke.

"You're in good form today, Hiei," he said.

"What do you mean?" Hiei asked, his smile vanishing.

Kurama frowned: perhaps Hiei's joke had been unintentional after all.

"Never mind," he assured his friend. "Not long now, I can see the top of Mukuro's tower from here."

"Oh, so close," Hiei said softly.

"Yes, which is good, because you need to rest," Kurama answered him. "You might even need a shot of the antidote, once it's been fully developed, because I'm not convinced that you can fight off the infection without help."

"Well that's not true, actually."

"Don't try to tell me you're coping, because clearly you're not. You've lost weight, you're very pale, you're still sweating, you've lost your speed and your strength, and you admitted yourself that you can't even control your jagan eye any more."

"But I am immune to the virus, Kurama. That's what I need to talk to you about. You see, I'm not actually–"

"Wait."

Kurama slapped a hand against Hiei's chest to stop him in his tracks. From the corner of his eye he saw Hiei stagger back a step and glare at his hand awkwardly as though the contact had embarrassed him somehow, but Kurama was too distracted to care why Hiei was looking so perturbed.

"Can you smell that?" he asked, inhaling deeper, his head almost swimming as the scent in the air around him became stronger.

"I'm not a fox," Hiei pointed out.

"Surely even you can smell that," Kurama replied, clenching his fists and squaring his shoulders as he tried to suppress his instinctive reaction to that teasing, lilting, sweet and salty smell.

"I can smell the ice village," Hiei said suddenly. "But why? We're nowhere near the ice village! Why can I smell it all the way out here?"

Hiei looked up at the sky, stumbling around in a circle as he searched the red expanse overhead for any trace of the ice village, as though he thought it might have somehow drifted away from its usual location.

"Hiei!" Kurama hissed.

Hiei looked down, already knowing before he moved his head which way Kurama wanted him to direct his attention: something was moving on the path ahead of them. They were walking along a path cut into a mountainside, the mountain stretching upwards on their right and sloping downwards on their left, and someone had apparently been scrambling up the incline to reach the path, and was now struggling over the rocks at the path's edge. Kurama turned to Hiei, who frowned and shrugged, looking every bit as confused as Kurama felt. Both turned back to the small creature ahead of them, watching in equals measures of confusion and fascination as a bundle of lilac and yellow rolled awkwardly over the rocks and onto the path, where it unfurled and stretched upwards, taking the form of a small child.

The girl peered over the edge she had just cleared, looking about cautiously before turning towards Hiei and Kurama and running. She halved the distance between them before actually noticing them, at which point she gasped and skidded to a halt so abruptly that she fell to one knee.

"Where did you come from?" Kurama asked.

"Idiot!" Hiei hissed at him. "She's from the ice village!"

"I can smell that," Kurama growled back. "I meant how did she get here. She's a very long way from home, not to mention too young to be travelling alone."

"Girls her age aren't allowed to leave the village," Hiei replied. "Something must have happened to her."

Hiei started towards the girl, but she screamed and ran from him.

"No, wait!" he called after her.

She ran straight into a large troll who had just pulled himself up over the same ledge she had come from. She tried to turn around and run back towards Hiei and Kurama, but the troll grabbed a handful of her yukata, halting her escape.

"Let her go!" Hiei said, marching towards the troll.

Kurama hurried after him, grabbing his arm to stop him before he reached the troll. Hiei glared up at him and Kurama nodded his head towards the troll. Hiei turned to look, and seemed to then finally notice that there were two other demons climbing up to join the troll.

"We saw her first, get your own!" the troll said, before lifting the girl from the ground by her clothing.

"You took her from her village?" Hiei asked. "How did you find it?"

"Never mind how we found it, get your own!" the troll replied.

Hiei tried to move forwards again but Kurama tightened his grip and held him back.

"What do you want with her?" he asked. "She's clearly just a child, and a powerless one at that."

"She's one of those ice witches," the troll replied. "What's the matter pretty boy, you all looks and no brains?"

Kurama narrowed his eyes, his free hand twitching in the direction of his hair and he contemplated drawing a weapon.

"Don't you know how valuable these things are?" the troll asked, shaking the little ice maiden in the air.

The girl's clothing tore and her entire body dropped several inches before jerking to a halt again as the tear reached a seam and stopped. She looked down at the ground with wide eyes, but did not make a sound or try to struggle.

"You're just using her for her tears!" Hiei said, trying to move and again forcing Kurama to pull him back.

"Tears?" the troll echoed. "No, this one may be small, but it never cries. Maybe just as well, I don't need it making too much noise, somebody else might hear it and come looking for it."

"Wait…" Kurama said, tugging Hiei back again. "You are taking that girl for her tears, right?"

"Huh?" the troll echoed.

"Her tears," Kurama said. "That's what you're after, isn't it?"

The troll turned to his associates, who all muttered between themselves curiously.

"Is that where it comes from?" the troll asked, turning back to Kurama. "Is it a serum that they cry out?"

"Serum?" Hiei echoed. "What are you talking about, you big, dumb oaf!"

"Stay calm," Kurama said sternly, pulling Hiei closer to his side. "I don't think this is what it seems."

"We were just gonna eat it," the troll said. "We figured that was the best way to get the good out of it. There's about enough to split three ways, but not five, so go get your own."

"You're not eating her!" Hiei yelled, pulling out his sword. "You'll have to kill me first!"

"Where did you find her?" Kurama asked, winding his fist around Hiei's cloak to help secure his hold.

"Like I already said: get your own," the troll replied.

He lifted the girl up again, moving her towards his mouth and grinning. She slowly eyed him over, as though considering her options, before kicking both heels into one of his protruding lower fangs. In his following moment of confusion she grabbed her clothing and finished the tear that had begun, her body falling to the ground, leaving ragged yellow silk dangling from the troll's fingers.

"Get her!" the troll shouted at his friends.

The ice maiden nimbly picked her way over the rocks at the side of the path and then leapt from them, landing awkwardly on the steep, rocky mountainside below. She started to run, hobbling from an injury she had clearly suffered on her landing. Hiei tried to go after her and again Kurama held him back.

"They'll kill her!" he barked impatiently.

"I need to know why," Kurama replied, watching the troll and his partners scramble down the hillside after the little girl.

"It doesn't matter why!" Hiei protested.

"Hesitation, patience and observation can be useful skills, you really ought to learn how to…"

Kurama's voice faded as he felt Hiei's previously taut cloak go limp in his hand: he looked first down at the black material still settling down, then over at Hiei, catching a brief glimpse of him before he threw himself over the ledge. Kurama threw down Hiei's cloak and hurried after him: something was clearly amiss if the troll was not chasing the ice maiden for her tears, and it was typical that Hiei would lack the patience to find out what was really going on.

Ahead of him, Kurama could see that the troll was almost upon the little girl, and Hiei was too far behind to stop him catching her again. As the troll's shadow fell over the girl she stopped and crouched down, as though accepting her fate and simply trying to shield her head from any impact blow. But a faint glow of blue and distinct drop in the temperature of the air reminded Kurama why it was always a bad idea to underestimate an ice maiden. He looked about himself, realising too late that the entire hillside was made up rocks laced with a network of small streams and rivers: with gravity helping build momentum, Kurama could not stop himself before the ground underneath his feet froze, and his reaction was barely more graceful than the troll and his two accomplices, who all promptly fell over.

Kurama managed to stay on his feet, but really only because he slid into an especially large rock that halted his descent. He grabbed onto it to steady his balance, looking down at the chaos further down the mountain: the three bandits were slipping about, trying to stand and failing miserably and the little ice maiden was sliding down a narrow river, freezing it as she went. He watched her slalom effortlessly around the rocks, eventually joining up with the main river down the mountain, which was frozen by the time she reached it. He could not help but smile in appreciation of her resourcefulness, but his smile vanished an instant later when he noticed Hiei. Somehow, despite having been behind the three thugs who had been chasing the ice maiden, Hiei was suddenly several yards over to one side and much further down the slope, gliding down the main river as easily as the little girl.

Kurama briefly wondered why Hiei did not just use his fire powers to turn the ice back into water, or even into steam, which would have stopped the girl's escape and hidden him from view, but instead Hiei slid down the river, caught the girl in one arm and stabbed his sword into the ice with his other arm, swinging around to a halt. He then stowed his weapon and put both his arms around the girl, effortlessly walking across the steep, icy incline to the riverbank.

Kurama finally came to his senses again when he realised that the troll was starting to find his footing by smashing the small streams of ice into oblivion. He released the rock and tried to slide down the hillside as Hiei and the ice maiden had done, but ended up stumbling about clumsily and banging into a few more rocks on his way down. Once he reached the area the troll had cleared, he took out his Rose Whip, hitting one of the demons with his first blow, tearing open a gash down his back. The wounded demon fled and Kurama turned his attention to the troll, catching one of his wrists with the end of his Rose Whip.

The third bandit charged at Hiei, impaling himself on Hiei's sword. Hiei took longer than seemed reasonable to let the bandit fall to the ground and recover his weapon, but Kurama was too distracted to really notice why. The troll had grabbed his Rose Whip with his free hand and was trying to pull Kurama from his feet by pure brute strength. With little time and few other options, Kurama tore his whip from the troll, leaving a deep, bloody ring around his wrist, and in the moment of distraction that followed when the troll cried out and looked down at the injury, Kurama quickly retrieved a seed from his hair and charged at the troll, feigning a slow punch, which the troll predictably blocked with his arm, allowing Kurama to plant the seed directly into the wound he had created, before leaping back to avoid the inevitable counter.

"Tell us why you wanted this girl," Kurama said to the troll. "Most hunt her kind for the value of her tears, but that didn't seem to matter to you. If you weren't after her tears, what did you want with her?"

"You know damn well what I wanted her for!" the troll bellowed.

"No, I don't actually," Kurama corrected him. "I've planted a Death Plant seed in you."

"What?"

The troll began frantically fumbling with his clothing as though he thought he could somehow loosen the seed and free himself.

"Answer our questions, and I'll let you live," Kurama continued. "Why were you chasing this girl?"

"We chased her because someone told us she can cure the virus," the troll confessed.

"How?" Kurama asked.

"I don't know! All I know is that anyone who gets the virus gets cast out and banned from travelling, and in the city back there someone told me that little girl could cure me."

"How can she cure you?"

"I don't know."

The troll cried out in pain and surprise as something began moving beneath the skin of his forearm.

"What is that?" he asked.

"The Death Plant," Kurama plainly replied.

"I answered your question, and you're still gonna kill me?"

"I think you're still hiding something from me."

"I'm not I swear!"

"Is that your final answer?"

"Yes!"

"Then let those be your final words."

The troll screamed as green shoots burst from his skin, sprouting out of several different place of his body at once. Within minutes he had been reduced to a twitching pool of blood beneath an oddly serene and pretty flowering bush.

"Do you think he was telling the truth?" Hiei asked.

"Maybe," Kurama replied. "But once I plant a Death Planet seed, I can't stop it growing."

"But you told him you could," Hiei pointed out.

"I had to tell him that to make him talk."

Kurama smiled at Hiei, who gulped audibly and lowered his eyes. He carefully crouched down, standing the ice maiden onto the ground in front of him. She pushed herself away from him and, despite clearly still being unable to put her full weight onto one of her feet, she stumbled back, staring up at him with slightly dilated pupils. Her breathing was short and shallow and her entire body was tense and rigid.

"She's just a child," Hiei said quietly. "What they tried to do to her was unthinkable."

"It was despicable behaviour on their part," Kurama agreed. "But at least she isn't distressed by it."

Hiei turned sharply to Kurama, glaring at him as angrily as he had been glaring at the girl's captors only moments earlier.

"Ice maidens don't feel emotion," Kurama reminded him. "She won't suffer emotionally from this experience."

Hiei shook his head and thrust his hands into the pockets of his pants, fumbling around experimentally.

"The first lesson girls in the ice village are taught is never to cry," he said as he searched. "If they cry, they create hiruiseki, and if they create hiruiseki, they will be hunted and abused for that ability. Crying isn't allowed, not even at a funeral in the ice village. Punishment for shedding tears is severe. Do you know how difficult it is for a young child to hold back tears, Kurama?"

"I can't say that I do…" Kurama slowly replied.

"She is distressed, Kurama," Hiei continued, pulling out something from one pocket. "She's not crying, but she is distressed."

Hiei shook out the item in his hand and knelt down in front of the girl, who, rather than look surprised that a fire demon should be carrying such an item in his pocket, looked relieved and grabbed at it eagerly as Hiei handed it to her. As she pressed the item to her mouth and sat down on a low rock, Kurama stepped forwards and touched a hand to Hiei's shoulder to catch his attention. Hiei looked up at him from the corner of his eye and Kurama leaned forwards in order to keep his voice low.

"Hiei?" he asked quietly.

"What?" Hiei grunted.

"Why did you have a paper bag in your pocket?"

"She's hyperventilating, this helps."

Hiei turned towards the little ice maiden again, apparently thinking that his response was sufficient explanation. Kurama slowly straightened up again, patting Hiei on the shoulder as he did so.

"We need to decide how to deal with this," he said.

Hiei looked up at Kurama again, looking agitated and slightly confused.

"It would be wrong to abandon her," Kurama quietly explained. "We should try to return her to her home. Now I know you don't want to approach the ice village, but frankly, neither do I. You already know about the history between her race and mine… I think, since we are already closer to Mukuro's temple, we should continue on to there, and seek assistance from the Border Patrol to take her back."

"Absolutely no way!" Hiei said, standing so abruptly that the little girl in front of him jerked, the bag pressed to her mouth inflating and deflating faster then before.

Kurama smiled gently down at her before putting his hands on Hiei's shoulders and turning him around to face away from the ice maiden.

"The journey back to Arbeinia from this point, at the speed we have been travelling at, will take until nightfall," he whispered. "We could find ourselves having to keep her over night, and that's not a good outcome for any of us."

"She's just little girl, Kurama!" Hiei whispered back. "Are you telling me you can't be around her just because she is from the ice village?"

"No, it's not that!" Kurama harshly replied. "As you said yourself, she is just a child. My concern is that if she spends a night with us, it will all the harder to approach her mother and convince her to take her back: how do you think an ice maiden would react to finding her daughter in the hands of a fox demon and an evicted emiko?"

Hiei narrowed his eyes and thinned his lips in displeasure, but soon began nodding his head.

"I see your point," he reluctantly admitted. "But your other idea is stupid. We can't take the Border Patrol to Arbeinia and point up at the sky and say "there you go, there's the ice village, right there"!"

"I didn't mean that," Kurama replied. "I… Actually I don't know how best to approach this… Maybe we should call Botan."

"What can Botan possibly do?"

"She's a woman, and she can fly. She could approach the ice village."

"Stupid idea. She's not an ice demon, and she's not even a demon. The elders would tear her apart before she even got close."

"Then we need to find Yukina."

Hiei slowly shook his head, momentarily adopting that bewildered look again.

"I know you don't want to put her in any danger, but she'll be safe if she stays close to us," Kurama added. "We just need to arrange for her to meet us in Arbeinia, and we can hand the child over to her there for her to take back to the ice village."

"It might not be safe for Yukina to go back to the ice village," Hiei said, his voice slightly higher in pitch and a little strained. "I think we should take her back ourselves. Yukina left the ice village without permission the second time around, she told me as much herself when she gave her hiruiseki and asked me to find her brother. She gave me the impression she would not be welcomed back, and I believe that. The ice maidens don't like defectors, least of all one that chose to live with men and in the living world, no less."

"I understand your concerns, but approaching the village won't be easy for either of us."

"We have to do this."

Hiei turned from Kurama before he could argue further and crouched down in front of the ice maiden again, just as she removed the paper bag from her lips.

"Thank you for helping me," she said quietly. "I saw what you did back there… You're from the ice village too, aren't you?"

"Um, yes, I am," Hiei carefully replied.

"But they made you leave," the girl added.

"Yes, but it's alright," Kurama said, kneeling down beside Hiei. "We mean you no harm, and we would like to help you get back home."

The girl shook her head.

"It's okay, we won't hurt you," Kurama assured her. "Why don't you tell us your name?"

The girl shook her head again.

"I'm Kurama, and this is Hiei," Kurama tried.

"Really?" the girl asked. "That's what you call yourself?"

Hiei and Kurama both frowned at her, but she continued to look back at them incredulously.

"So what the elders teach us is true," she said faintly. "What they say about the world outside of the ice village, it's all true…"

"What are you talking about?" Hiei asked.

"Women are second-class citizens out here," the girl replied.

"That's not true!" Hiei snapped.

"No, it's not, in fact," Kurama agreed. "Hiei's superior is a woman. She once ruled one third of demon world."

"Disguised as a man," the girl said.

"How did you know that?" Hiei asked, leaning closer to her.

"That's what women have to do, isn't it?" the girl asked. "Men don't trust women, so women have to disguise themselves as men."

"It's true that Mukuro did disguise herself as a man in order to ascend to a position of power," Kurama agreed. "But I don't understand how you know about that…"

"I don't know who "Mukuro" is," the girl replied. "I was talking about the two of you. A man and a woman disguised as a man. Those nasty men who were chasing me wouldn't have been afraid of you if they had realised one of you was only a woman."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Hiei snapped.

He got to his feet and sighed forcefully, pushing his hands through his hair, leaving his spikes slightly flattened.

"I see you've injured your ankle," Kurama said to the ice maiden.

"I can heal that," she said.

"Well, why don't you save your energy for now and let me carry you?" Kurama offered. "Climb on my back, we'll take you back home to your family."

"Will you keep me safe from that man?"

"Of course."

The girl climbed onto Kurama's back and he stood up as Hiei turned to look at him, his face almost comically scrunched up.

"What man?" he asked, peering over Kurama's shoulder at the girl.

"You," she replied, shirking back behind Kurama's hair. "You're one of those evil fire boys."

Hiei's face opened out again, his eyes changing from narrow slits of red rage to wide saucers of incredulity in less than a second.

"She thinks I'm a woman," Kurama explained.

"You are a woman," the girl insisted, playing her fingers through Kurama's hair. "You have soft hair. Only women have soft hair."

"You don't think Hiei has soft hair?" Kurama asked, winking at Hiei.

Kurama turned and bent his legs to bring the girl level with Hiei. She reached out a single finger and poked tentatively at Hiei's hair before shuddering and retracting her hand again.

"No?" Kurama asked as he straightened his legs again.

"It's all hard and coarse," she replied. "Just like a man's."

"How would you even know what a man's hair feels like?" Hiei spat at her. "You've never seen a man up close before!"

"I have too," the girl replied, scowling down at him.

"You have not, don't lie!"

"I have!"

"No you haven't!"

"Yes I have!"

"No you–"

"Hiei, please," Kurama cut in. "Don't argue with the little girl."

Hiei growled out a sigh and pushed back his hair again, again leaving it less vertical that it usually was.

"I don't think the man knew that you were in disguise, Miss Kurama," the girl whispered to Kurama.

"No, I didn't tell him," Kurama whispered back. "But I think he might know now."

"Are you going to come to the ice village with me?" she asked him.

"I might do."

"Idiot!" Hiei blurted out.

"Who?" Kurama asked.

"Both of you!" Hiei snapped. "You're an idiot for humouring her, and you're an idiot for being so blind! He's a man! And he's a fox demon!"

The girl tilted her head to one side and pouted.

"That's not funny, Mister," she said.

"I wasn't trying to be funny!" Hiei yelled.

"There's no such thing as a fox demon," the girl said with a sigh. "Only stupid people think demons can be animals."

Kurama smiled and winked at Hiei, who groaned and dropped his face into his hands.

"Nothing has changed…" he grumbled into his palms. "They're still teaching them the same myopic nonsense…"

"Let's get going," Kurama said, patting Hiei on the shoulder sympathetically. "We'll need to move fast if we want to reach Arbeinia before nightfall."

"Arbeinia?" the girl asked.

"Yes, that's the name of the town by your village," Kurama explained.

"But my mother is still in Illyria."

Kurama turned sharply from Hiei, whose head whipped up, his eyebrows twisted in confusion.

"Illyria?" Kurama asked. "Are you sure about that?"

"That was what they told us when they took us there," the girl replied.

"When they… Took you…?" Hiei said faintly.

"Illyria isn't far from here, perhaps we should go there first," Kurama suggested.

"Who told you the name of the town?" Hiei asked the girl.

"The woman dressed as a man," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Some men are actually men, you know!" Hiei snapped, stamping a foot in anger. "We're not all women in disguise, you know! Silly girl, put those ridiculous ideas out of your tiny mind!"

"She was a woman dressed as a man!" the girl argued back. "She had yellow curly hair, cut short, and she was wearing grey clothes just like the other two men she was with!"

"Wait… Yellow curly hair and a grey uniform?" Kurama asked. "What did the two men with her look like?"

"One had black hair and a nose like a bird's beak, and the other had no hair at all, and he was very small," the girl replied.

"Why are you encouraging her to lie?" Hiei asked Kurama.

"Didn't you listen to what she just said?" Kurama responded. "She just described the three SDF officers who met us at the breach yesterday."

"She just… She… What?"

"Why would those three still be in demon world? They told us they would only need two hours to seal that breach, and they swore they would return to spirit world as soon as their work was done."

Hiei started to sweat and look bewildered again.

"Something is very wrong, Hiei," Kurama said. "We have to go to Illyria right away."

Hiei nodded his agreement and together they set off up the hillside again.

* * *

"Yusuke!" Koenma said. "What a fortuitous call!"

"Shut the hell up!" Yusuke snapped, accidentally spitting on the display screen of his communication mirror in his ire. "My spirit beast is faulty, and by my calculations, he's still under warranty: I want a new one!"

Koenma tilted his head to one side. Botan sighed, pushing Yusuke's face over to bring herself into her boss's line of sight.

"It's Puu, Sir," she explained. "He's turned on Yusuke now."

"Botan, there you are!" Koenma said.

Botan and Yusuke both paused, momentarily caught off-guard as Koenma visibly relaxed, touching a hand to his chest as though suddenly deeply relieved after a great tension.

"Sir? Is everything alright?" Botan asked.

"Botan, you have to return to spirit world immediately," he replied. "It's no longer safe for you to be anywhere else."

"Safe?" Botan echoed. "What do you mean "safe"?"

"He said "no longer safe", Botan," Yusuke pointed out. "That means you're not safe."

"That's what I meant!" Botan snapped, snatching the communicator from his hands. "Sir, what are you talking about?" she demanded, glaring into the screen.

"The trio of SDF officers I sent to demon world to seal the breach got caught up in the problems there a little bit," Koenma explained. "The virus is quite widespread, and it's caused chaos in demon world, and there was a quite obvious cure the doctors had overlooked. The SDF officers didn't think they were wrong to highlight the omission to the doctors there, and they… They helped enact a plan the doctors formulated to control the spread of contamination. Botan, you have to come back here, it's not safe for you."

"Why not?" Botan asked.

"Hey, those doctors found a cure?" Yusuke asked, snatching the communicator back from Botan.

"Yes," Koenma replied. "It turns out you're not immune to the virus, Yusuke. Neither is Kurama or Kuwabara."

"But my super-strong genetics fought off the infection, right?" Yusuke asked, sounding less certain with every word he spoke.

"No, you had help fighting it off," Koenma replied.

"No I damn well did not!"

"The only way to cure the sick and to prevent infection is through exposure to healing magic, Yusuke."

Botan gasped.

"So Botan can cure people?" Yusuke asked, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the ferry girl.

"Yes, and in the desperation to find capable healers, demons are taking any they can find," Koenma replied. "Including ferry girls. I've asked those three officers to remain behind in demon world to recover any ferry girls they find, and I'm calling all ferry girls out at work back here immediately. Botan, please come back, you're in great danger!"

"But… Don't we need the ferry girls in demon world to cure the virus?" Yusuke asked.

"Not really," Koenma replied. "Demon world has more efficient, powerful and capable healers than spirit world's ferry girls."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes… Their clan is difficult to find, but the SDF did have a map of its location, and so they went there and flushed out the… Say Yusuke, where are Hiei and Yukina right now?"

Yusuke scratched his head as he tried to think of the correct answer, but before he could get there Botan, who had begun to hop about from foot to foot, distracted him.

"Oh no, this is terrible!" she said, tugging at his arm. "The SDF have gone to the… And made them leave the… And Hiei will… And Yukina!"

"I never was any good at Mad Libs, fill in the blanks for me, Botan!" he said sarcastically.

"The SDF have forced the ice maidens from their village, Yusuke," Koenma said. "They are the best healers in demon world, and it's not spirit world's job to aid demon world. If the SDF hadn't done what they did, demons would have hunted down ferry girls instead."

"Damn it, Yukina!" Yusuke said. "Where the hell is she?"

"You don't know?" Koenma asked. "Well, where is Hiei at least? He might not react well to this news."

Yusuke turned to Botan, and they both answered in unison.

"He's already there."

* * *

Kurama and Hiei had been running for almost an hour by the time they reached the city limits of Illyria. Hiei was sweating, he had been running fast only by human standards, he was becoming breathless, and Kurama suspected that he was struggling to keep going: but he was typically stubborn and refused to admit as much. They both naturally slowed down as the path ahead of them narrowed, filtering them towards a narrow bridge made of jagged black metal with high sides. The river it crossed was fast-flowing and impassable, and the city that lay beyond it was suitably dark and foreboding, the tall, sharp-edged buildings all made of the same black metal as the bridge, their spires and towers looking like a forest of thorns against the red sky.

"This is Illyria?" Hiei asked.

"You've been here before, haven't you?" Kurama responded. "I thought you said you had. Surely during your time with the band of thieves you grew up with you visited this city at least once: it has the biggest black market of this region of demon world."

"I knew that," Hiei quietly replied.

Kurama stepped onto the bridge and the girl on his shoulders pulled at his hair and Hiei stopped several steps back.

"Despite how it looks, this bridge is secure," Kurama called back over his shoulder.

Behind him Hiei was peering down over the steep riverbank into the murky, frothy water thundering past. He actually looked afraid, and since he had forgotten to recover his cloak on the mountainside, his neck, shoulders and bandaged arms were exposed and all were looking especially frail. Kurama knew that Hiei had a secret dislike of moving water – possibly because of the nature of his being, fire demons were typically wary of powerful bodies of water – and he knew that, if pushed, Hiei was more likely to become irrational than admit that he could not make himself cross the bridge.

"Maybe you should wait here," Kurama said, turning around and stepping off the bridge again.

He moved over to where Hiei was standing and slowly lowered himself down to one knee.

"The two of you wait here, I'll go into the city and acquire some better clothes for the girl," he said, helping the ice maiden untangle her fingers from his hair.

"Right, good thinking," Hiei agreed. "We'll wait here."

"Be careful," Kurama warned as he stood up again. "Even though her clothes are a little untidy, they still clearly mark her as inhabitant of the ice village, and, on sight alone, others around here might come after her if what the troll told us was true."

Hiei nodded his understanding and Kurama stood up again, only to almost trip over as the little ice maiden grabbed at one leg of his pants.

"Don't leave me alone with the mean little man," she whispered up at him.

Kurama tried to hide his smile from Hiei, who he could see was less than pleased with the little girl's reaction.

"I won't be long, I promise," he told her.

He then prised her from his clothing and hurried away, pausing halfway across the bridge to wave a hand at Hiei, who simply glared back at him. Hiei was not really an ideal babysitter, least of all for a child of the ice village, but he had been adamant that they should return the girl to her home, and he ought to have realised that doing so would involve looking after the girl until they reached their destination.

Kurama's smile widened: Hiei never planned ahead for anything, he probably had not realised that taking the girl home meant spending a day with her. He wondered what they would talk about in his absence – if anything at all – and if Hiei would manage to control his temper long enough not to end up throwing her into the river.

Thankfully, Kurama was very familiar with Illyria, and, although he had not visited the city for several decades, little had changed other than the faces of some of the street vendors. He easily found his way to the market square, an open plaza in the centre of the largest buildings in the city and home to one of the largest selections of free merchants in demon world. Kurama had, in his younger days, often visited the market square in Illyria with bags of loot he had stolen from other regions. It was usually a hive of activity, and, as he approached it from a connecting alleyway, Kurama began to encounter queues and crowds, and he could hear voices shouting out prices: apparently there was an auction on that day, which was only going to make it all the more hectic. He had to fight against angry and sickly demons crowding the alley to make it out onto the plaza, and once he finally got there, he saw why the crowds were so thick: a makeshift stage had been built in the centre of the square and it was lined by demons in biohazard suits like the kind the doctors on the medical transporter had been wearing, and they were holding back the throngs of demons crowding around the stage. On the stage itself, one of the doctors was standing at a podium, shouting out prices and somehow managing to monitor bids from the desperate crowds around him, who seemed to all be shouting out and raising their hands at once.

But it was not the auction, the crowds or even the number of sick that concerned Kurama the most: it was what the doctors were apparently selling. On the stage were four framed cages on wheels, like the kind used to transport prisoners, their structure specifically designed to allow the application of energy types that would contain whoever was placed inside them. And apparently the auction that day was for the prisoners inside the cages.

Quite apart from how badly Hiei was going to react when he found out, Kurama worried then that what the troll and the little ice maiden had said was true: had the SDF alerted the rest of demon world to the whereabouts of the ice village? After all, what other explanation was there for six ice maidens – four adults and two children – appearing in Illyria, a considerable distance from their home and beyond the limits of where they would normally dare wander on one of their rare visits to the outside world?

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Hiei finds his way to the auction and loses his self-control. Kurama tries to stop him, but things become even more complicated when Yusuke, Kuwabara and Puu join the foray, and Hiei is forced into a difficult situation. **Chapter 11 – Thieves' Nest**


	11. Thieves' Nest

**A/N:** This story is just turning into something so much more massive than I originally had planned (kinda like My Downfall and Anything She Does). It's also a lot more serious and a lot more ridiculous than I thought it would be (that seems to make no sense, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that the original plot wasn't so intense but also there weren't so many stupid moments…

 **Recap:** Hiei and Kurama rescued a little girl from the ice village, and they decided to return her to her mother, which took them to a city Kurama remembered as being a thieves' nest (according to the title of this chapter). Koenma called Botan back to spirit world because she is in danger of being hunted by demons, as the cure for the virus in demon world is healing magic, and Kurama discovered that ice maidens from the ice village were being auctioned off for their powers.

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Thieves' Nest**

"How do you know which way to go?"

"I don't! I'm not steering this thing!"

"Well that's reassuring…"

Kuwabara peered over the back of one of Puu's wings, feeling a little nauseous as he saw the treetops rushing past.

"We're moving really, really fast, Urameshi," he pointed out.

"Tell me something I don't already know!" Yusuke complained. "Damn bird! First he tries to bury me in the forest and now he's birdnapped me!"

"Don't you mean kidnapped?" Kuwabara asked.

"No, I mean birdnapped!"

"But the word at the start refers to the victim, not the assailant."

"If I wanted a grammar lesson, I would have taken Keiko! Shut-up and do something useful!"

"Like what?"

"Like figure out where this bird is taking us!"

Kuwabara peered over each side of Puu in turn before sitting up straight again, looking at the back of Yusuke's head.

"Okay, first of all, I have no idea where we are, because I've only been to demon world that one time, and I was sort of too distracted fighting Sensui to notice any road signs," he said flatly. "Secondly, you lived here for three years Urameshi, you ought to know your way around. And lastly, and absolutely most importantly, Puu only does what you tell him to do, so he's only taking us to where you want to get to."

"First of all, you better stop talking at me in that tone of voice," Yusuke snapped back over his shoulder. "Second, demon world is a huge place, saying I should know where we are now is like flying you over a foreign country in human world and expecting you to know your way around. Third, Puu doesn't always do what I tell him to do, and since he's blown a fuse or got a screw loose lately, he hasn't been doing anything remotely helpful. Fourth, I have no idea where we are, and you're really not helping. And last of all, I really hate people who list their sarcastic replies. Do that again, and I'm throwing you off!"

"But you listed your sarcastic answers too!" Kuwabara pointed out.

"I don't like people correcting me, either!"

Kuwabara muttered a few choice insults under his breath, but Yusuke ignored him, instead leaning forwards and looking over Puu's shoulder in the hope of spotting a landmark he recognised. Puu had, after trying to fly himself and Yusuke into the ground outside of Genkai's temple several times, eventually let Kuwabara climb onto his back alongside Yusuke, and he had taken them to demon world. Unfortunately, almost as soon as he had entered the world of red skies and thunderstorms, Puu had veered away from the direction Yusuke had tried to take him – back towards the breach they had discovered the day before – and instead he was flying very fast towards a mountain range east of where they needed to be. Yusuke was allowing Puu to continue, mostly because he was curious to see where the spirit beast would take him. He hoped that it was somewhere useful: the past few days had been hard enough dealing with a sick and strange Hiei, the last thing Yusuke wanted to face now was a sick and strange Hiei trying to come to terms with the fact that spirit world had exposed the ice village and flushed out Hiei's entire clan to be used as medicine against the virus.

"Hey Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked. "Do you think maybe Yukina ran away because of the virus?"

"I dunno, but wherever she is, she must be safe," Yusuke absent-mindedly replied.

"I think she knew this would happen and she ran away to avoid being caught," Kuwabara continued. "I don't think she could handle being taken prisoner again."

"Yeah, this must the first time I've ever heard about something useful her people can actually do," Yusuke replied.

"Yukina's not useless, Urameshi!"

"Name one useful thing she does."

"She heals my wounds and she's a great cook!"

"I'm a great cook and Kurama's plants can heal wounds better and faster than Yukina can."

"She's a lot prettier than you!"

Yusuke smiled, turning his head to allow Kuwabara to see his amusement.

"But she's not prettier than Kurama," he said.

"What?" Kuwabara yelped.

Yusuke laughed openly, silently glad of the distraction Kuwabara was proving to be. Puu rolled slightly and Kuwabara almost lost his balance, but Yusuke held himself in place with ease, continuing to laugh at Kuwabara's discomfort. They rounded the side of a large mountain that stretched up into the clouds and entered a wide, deep valley, the roaring of a river reaching their ears. Yusuke stopped laughing long enough to notice that they were approaching a crowded city, closed off from the rest of the area by mountains on one side and a deathly violent river on the other.

Yusuke briefly caught a glimpse of two figures by the riverside before Puu lurched in the air and began swooping down towards a jagged bridge, the apparent only means of crossing the treacherous river. Puu landed reasonably steadily, flattening himself against the ground to make it easier for Yusuke and Kuwabara to disembark.

"Take care of this child."

"Huh?"

Yusuke turned on the spot to see Hiei pushing a little girl in torn clothing into Kuwabara's arms.

"The people in this city will murder her if they get their hands on her," Hiei said sternly. "Do not let her out of your sight, understand?"

"Um, right, but what are you doing with a kid anyway?" Kuwabara asked.

Hiei turned to Yusuke, eying him over as though considering his worthiness before moving towards him.

"Stay here and protect that child," he said, stepping around Yusuke.

"Okay, but before you go running off, there's something really important I have to tell you," Yusuke said, grabbing Hiei's arm as he tried to climb onto Puu's back.

"Make it quick, I have to do something urgently," Hiei replied.

"Koenma called us," Yusuke said. "I need you to stay calm when I tell you what he said, okay?"

"Tell me now Yusuke!"

"Okay, okay! He said the doctors found out what cures the virus. It's healing magic."

"I already knew that."

"You did?"

"What?"

Yusuke frowned, tightening his hold on Hiei's arm and pulling him away from Puu to look directly at him.

"You knew that healing magic could cure the virus?" he asked. "And you didn't say anything? Not even to those doctors?"

Hiei faltered slightly, a hint of something indescribable passing over his features.

"I was going to go to Mukuro to fix it," he said quietly.

"Oh, I get it!" Yusuke said, brightening again. "The healing magic in the healing chamber partially cured you, but because you didn't stay in there long enough, it didn't totally cure you. That's how you knew healing magic was the answer, right?"

"Um…"

"Or did you just say you knew what I was talking about to look cool? Because you hate admitting you might have been the last to know anything…"

Hiei looked over at Kuwabara and Yusuke saw him turn paler.

"So it's true…" he said faintly. "The ice maidens are being hunted for their healing powers."

"Oh, you already know about that then," Yusuke said in a low voice.

Hiei looked up at him again, his eyes anxious and demanding.

"Those SDF soldiers who came here to seal the breach gave the doctors at the medical transporter a map with directions to the ice village," Yusuke continued. "They did it to stop demons going to living world and attacking ferry girls. It sucks, I know, but maybe this is the way it has to be. People are dying from that virus, and if the ice maidens can stop that, then maybe it just has to go down like this."

Hiei sharply yanked his arm from Yusuke's hold.

"Do not let them take that girl," he said, pointing back at the girl Kuwabara was still holding on to. "I have to do something urgently, tell Kurama I won't be long."

He stepped around Yusuke and jumped up onto Puu's back.

"You're not using my spirit beast as your own damn taxi, Hiei!" Yusuke protested.

"Puu, take me out of here," Hiei said to the bird, gripping into his feathers for added security.

"Puu, don't even think about it!" Yusuke said, grabbing one of Puu's ears and pulling it down, forcing his head over to one side.

"Go, Puu!"

"Stay, Puu!"

"Go!"

"Stay!"

Puu cried out in frustration, shaking his entire body until Hiei lost his grip and fell of and Yusuke was forced to let go of his ear.

"You have to let me go!" Hiei argued. "I have to do something very important!"

"You can powder your nose later, Hime!" Yusuke argued back.

"Is it always like this?" the little girl asked Kuwabara. "Do men always fight?"

"I don't always fight," Kuwabara answered her. "I do other heroic stuff too, like take care of cats and play air guitar to Megallica's Greatest Hits."

The girl eyed him over sceptically.

"I don't know yet that you are entirely a man," she said.

"What?" he yelped.

"You might also be a woman in disguise, like the other one with the colourful hair," she added.

"Nobody is a woman in disguise!" Hiei yelled.

"You could be," Yusuke muttered, eying him over with an amused smirk.

"He's not a woman, he has horrible man-hair," the little ice maiden said.

"You're getting a little too cocky, you should be more guarded," Hiei growled at her.

She leaned away from him and Kuwabara correspondingly turned his back on Hiei, lifting the girl up higher to keep them apart.

"Don't come over here and scare her with your mean ugly face, Hiei!" he warned.

"She came from the ice village," Hiei flatly replied. "She's seen faces far meaner and uglier than mine."

"…Isn't this the part where you're supposed to call me ugly or stupid or something?" Kuwabara asked.

"Huh, don't think you know me."

Hiei moved towards the bridge, peering over at the river below again. Behind him Kuwabara sat the little girl down onto Puu's back.

"My name's Rikka," she said.

"I'm Kazuma Kuwabara," he replied.

"I'm Yusuke, this is Puu and the grumpy little one over there is called Hime," Yusuke added.

"I thought his name was Hiei," Rikka said.

"It is, but we prefer to call him Hime," Yusuke replied.

"But why?"

"Because it makes him really angry, and that's funny," Kuwabara said.

"That's very mean. Only men do such mean things."

"Nonsense!" Hiei shrieked, spinning around abruptly to glare back at Rikka.

Yusuke and Kuwabara both recoiled further than the little girl at the sight of Hiei so irate that his eyes were glowing.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Hiei continued. "How could you? All you know about is life in that reclusive and repressed community! You don't think women say and do mean things too? Or that men never have a kind thought in their heads?"

"Calm down Hiei, she's just a kid," Kuwabara said.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Hiei yelled back. "All of you! Just stop! I can't take it any more!"

He turned around to face the bridge again, marching up it and grabbing at the clumsy supports on either side of him.

"I don't want to cross this bridge!" he shouted.

"So then don't!" Yusuke shouted back at him.

"I've come this far, I'm crossing it!"

Hiei staggered awkwardly across the bridge, clutching at the struts as he went and then looked unreasonably pleased with himself when he finally reached the other side. He paused long enough to see Yusuke salute him with an offensive hand gesture and Kuwabara to shake his head, before running off into the city beyond.

"I can't take much more of him being like this," Yusuke said to Kuwabara as they watched Hiei slowly disappear from sight.

"I think you're probably definitely a man," Rikka said to Yusuke.

Yusuke smiled as Kuwabara turned around to face them, looking suddenly offended.

"I'm probably definitely a man too, you know!" he said.

"Big emphasis on the "probably"," Yusuke loudly whispered to Rikka.

"Shut-up, Urameshi!" Kuwabara snapped.

* * *

Kurama shouldered his way to the front of the crowd – which was easier a task than it seemed, due mostly to the fact that most of the demons around him were weakened by the virus and easily overcome. Of the few healthy that were in attendance, most were well-known, wealthy and influential individuals, who were apparently present to buy all of the women for sale and then auction off their services individually at even higher prices to the sick and needy. Once he reached the very front of the crowd, Kurama saw that two of the cages contained middle-aged ice maidens, who were typically stoic in the face of their awful predicament, one cage contained a slightly younger ice maiden and her early-adolescent daughter, who were clinging to each other, the mother as expressionless as the older ice demons and her daughter showing only a mild hint of anxiety in her eyes, and the fourth cage held an ice maiden around the same age as the mother ice demon, but she, unlike the other four, was clearly showing signs of distress. Her arms were huddled around her torso, she was trembling and her breathing was erratic: she was hyperventilating, just as the young ice maiden Kurama had rescued from the bandits had been. And, if what Hiei had told him was true, that meant that she wanted to cry, but would not allow herself to.

And, judging by her appearance, she was the mother of the little girl they had found, which was presumably why she was more upset than the others, having been separated from her child.

Although auctioning off demons against their will was not something Kurama had never seen happen before, he was surprised that it was being allowed to happen under Enki's reign as ruler of demon world, as he was known for his benevolent nature and had already abolished a lot of the crueller traditions of demon world, his most famous act being the implementation of the Border Patrol, created solely to protect humans who accidentally entered demon world. And with that thought in mind, Kurama moved closer still to the stage, grabbing the sleeve of the nearest suit he could reach, tugging a disgruntled doctor away from the others.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"Let go of me!" the doctor demanded, trying to tug his arm free but failing miserably against Kurama's superior strength.

"Not until you explain this to me," Kurama firmly replied. "Tell me how it's possible that you can do this in such a public forum without protest?"

"Those witches are the answer we've all been looking for, haven't you heard? They can cure the virus! They knew they could cure it all along, but they didn't volunteer to help, and when we asked them for help they refused! People are dying all over the world, and these bitter bitches could have stopped it!"

"I understand that, but the fact remains that you can't sell them off like commodities!"

"Why not? They don't have any feelings or any thoughts of their own! This is the only useful thing they've ever done for us!"

"This is a blatant breach of Enki's rulings, you'll pay for this."

"Hey, this is happening all over demon world, and nobody else is complaining!"

Kurama roughly released the doctor, taking a step back to again assess the situation on the stage. As the cages had been set to resist only ice attacks, it would probably be relatively easy for him to force them open and set the ice maidens free: but there was easily more than a thousand demons crowding the square, the alleys connecting to the square and lining the rooftops of the buildings that framed the square, and every one of them seemed quite adamantly in favour of selling the ice maidens for their powers. Even if he had Hiei, Yusuke, Kuwabara and the whole team of demons Yomi still employed as guards – Chu, Jin, Touya, Shishiwakamaru, Suzuka and Rinku – Kurama knew that it would not be enough to free the ice maidens and overpower the crowds. His best hope, he supposed, was to alert the authorities, since surely Enki would not approve of what was happening, and he would have access to the most powerful and the clearest thinking demons in demon world, who he could deploy to Illyria to stop the madness.

"When someone gets sick, they pay for their medication to get better, right?" the doctor in front of Kurama said. "That's all that's happening here: people are sick, this is the medication, and they're paying for it."

Kurama turned around, no longer trusting himself not to try to fight what was happening. He started to push his way back through the crowds, but halted after only advancing a few bodies deep as he noticed a disturbance in the crowd ahead of him. People seemed to be parting in an almost straight line, but he could not see why. The disturbance moved quickly across the square before reaching the stage, at which point Kurama was finally able to see what it was.

"Hiei, no!" he yelled.

His voice was drowned out amongst the shouts of the desperate bidders around him, though he doubted Hiei would have hesitated even if he had heard Kurama's voice. The impetuous fire demon slipped between two of the doctors and leapt up onto the stage, lunging at the nearest cage. Kurama quickly pushed his way back to the front of the crowd, catching Hiei as he was thrown back from the stage by something. Almost immediately Hiei elbowed Kurama in the gut and wriggled out of his hold, leaping at the stage again, this time tripping and falling short of his goal as the doctors moved to block his path. Undeterred, he pulled out his sword, grabbing it in both hands and swinging it up into the air. Kurama leapt forward and grabbed Hiei's wrists to stop him bearing his weapon down again.

"What are you doing?" Hiei snarled over his shoulder at Kurama.

"I was just about ask you the same question," Kurama replied. "If you continue like this, you and I and all those ice maidens will be killed. Is that what you want?"

"I have to do this," Hiei insisted.

"I won't let you," Kurama replied. "This is another one of those times when your reckless ways are completely the wrong approach. This is one of those times when you absolutely have to stop and plan your next move."

Hiei's expression softened slightly, and Kurama dared to hope that he had actually managed to talk some sense into his friend.

"I'm really sorry Kurama," he said quietly.

"It's alright, we can still walk away from this," Kurama assured him. "You don't have to apologise, I understand how you must feel."

"You don't understand," Hiei replied, his voice a little firmer. "And I was apologising for what I'm about to do next."

"What are you–ah!"

On instinct Kurama snatched his hands back as a searing pain spread over his palms. Hiei used his moment of confusion to storm the stage again, this time managing to reach the cages. Kurama took a step forwards to pull him back again, but paused as a strange thought occurred to him. He slowly looked down, lifting up his palms before him. Where his skin had been in contact with Hiei's wrists he had deep-red marks, the skin already tightening as it typically would after suffering a burn – but the skin around the marks was unnaturally white, he was losing the feeling in the tips of his fingers and, most importantly of all, he had never before seen Hiei create a flame that did not burn off his clothing around it. Kurama lifted his head to the stage: the bandaging around Hiei's hands was unmarked and, considering all they had been through that day, remarkably clean. It seemed impossible then that he could have burned Kurama with a fire attack, the sensation caused by the attack had not been consistent with a burn and the marks he was left with were not typical of a burn either – it was almost as it he had been electrocuted rather than burned, but that made no sense either.

Kurama was forced to ignore his injuries and the questions surrounding them though as saw that Hiei had become engulfed by doctors in bio hazard suits. It was quite a ridiculous sight, as the doctors' mobility had been restricted by their bulky protective clothing, making it all the easier for little Hiei to slip out beneath clumsy, gloved hands and around weighted legs. Knowing that he had no other choice in the matter, Kurama climbed up onto the stage and began prying the doctors away from Hiei as gently as he could. Escaping the auction site was going to be hard enough as it was, he did not need angered and wounded demons chasing after him en masse to complicate matters.

Hiei, meanwhile, was mostly being held back by a demon who had a hold of his sword-bearing arm. He was thrashing about and dodging any blows the others aimed at him, but he was unable to break away completely. He was not, however, showing any signs of surrender. His expression was as determined and irate as ever, and his eyes were continually darting between the doctors holding him back and the caged women on the stage behind them.

And just as Kurama finally managed to push and pull his way through to Hiei's side, everyone on the stage fell under a shadow, and the tempestuous bartering in the square was reduced to a sea of confused murmuring.

"Oh no…" Kurama muttered involuntarily as he looked up and saw what was blocking out the light.

Hiei – who was not at all confused and remarkably less surprised or concerned than Kurama was – finally managed to pull his arm free and slip out between two of the suited doctors, dashing to the nearest cage. He tried to cut off the lock with his sword, but was unsuccessful despite delivering several violent blows. However, his struggles did not last long as he – and everyone else on the stage – was almost blasted from his feet.

Kurama tried to shout out to Yusuke and Kuwabara to turn back, but they both already looked irate, and jumped from Puu's back into the melee. Yusuke waved to Puu to fly up higher, the gusts his wings were creating making it difficult for even Yusuke to stand up straight. Puu obediently rose up higher, Rikka still on his back.

"What the hell is this?" Yusuke demanded.

"They're selling these women to be used and abused!" Hiei answered before anyone else could.

"Hey, look at the clothes they're wearing and those things in their hair!" Kuwabara said. "Are they from the ice village like Yukina?"

"Yes!" Hiei replied. "This one is Rikka's mother!"

Yusuke and Kuwabara squinted up at Puu's hovering form and then looked over at the barely stable ice maiden of identical appearance restrained inside a case.

"This blows!" Yusuke concluded. "Hey, was this your idea?" he asked the demon at the podium.

"Holding the auction here was my idea, yes," he replied.

"Thanks," Yusuke said, smiling sarcastically. "It's always good to know whose ass I'm meant to be kicking before I start."

He punched the man in the face, collapsing his protective helmet.

"Stop!" Kurama said. "We're surrounded here, we can't start a fight!"

"Selling innocent women as slaves is wrong!" Kuwabara cried.

Kurama and Hiei ducked down as Kuwabara charged along the stage, swiping his spirit sword about as he went. As the cages had not been rigged to guard against attack from human spirit energy, they deactivated and broke apart under his attacks. Yusuke stuck his thumb and index finger into his mouth, whistling out in almost deafening way, and Puu began to descend again.

"Can Puu carry them all?" Kuwabara asked.

"He has to," Hiei replied, carefully opening out the cage around the ice maiden and her young daughter.

"Get them on quick, I'll take care of crowd control," Yusuke said.

"This isn't going to work!" Kurama said.

"Ow!" Kuwabara yelped as one of the ice maiden stamped on his foot when he tried to help her out of her cage.

"You have to go with Puu," Hiei told the ice maidens as he ushered them together in front of Puu. "And go quickly, it's very dangerous for you to stay here."

The women looked reluctant to do anything, but when she saw her daughter on Puu's back, Rikka's mother scrambled up over his wing without a second thought. Gradually the others followed her lead, struggling to fit themselves comfortably onto Puu's back.

"Go Puu, take them out of here!" Yusuke urged, waving a hand at his spirit beast.

Puu called out his name and spread out his wings, knocking down one of the doctors approaching him. He managed to lift himself from the stage again, but demons and doctors alike all leapt at him, grabbing onto his legs to weigh him down.

"Gees, what is wrong with these bastards?" Yusuke asked.

"They're sick, Yusuke," Kurama explained.

"You're telling me!" Yusuke agreed.

"No, he means they have the virus," Hiei said. "They're trying to buy these women to get themselves cured!"

Yusuke paused.

"These people will die if they don't get help," Kurama pointed out.

"Yeah, but they don't have to sell those women in cages like they're animals in a zoo!" Kuwabara argued, pulling one of the demons from Puu's leg.

Hiei hurried over and began assisting Kuwabara, both shortly managing to free one of Puu's legs. Puu tucked his freed leg up against his body to stop any more attacks and Kuwabara and Hiei moved their efforts to his other leg. Kurama grabbed Yusuke's arm to catch his attention, hoping to appeal to the only semi-coherent member of the group.

"The vendor told me this is happening all over demon world, Yusuke," he explained. "We can't possibly stop it, and even if we did, everyone infected with the virus will die, including Jin and Chu."

Yusuke looked out at the heaving mob around them, the troubled look on his face clearly showing that he was struggling with the morals of the situation just as much as Kurama was.

"But if those ice hags are the only ones who can cure the virus, shouldn't they be helping everyone who has it?" he eventually said. "And not just, you know, those rich enough to win an auction like this one?"

"Yes, I agree that the methods used here are completely immoral," Kurama agreed. "But attempting to protect the ice maidens from these people isn't right or even practical either."

"Well we already started this, we can't go back now."

"Yusuke!"

Kurama tried to reach out a hand to stop Yusuke from jumping over to help free Puu but failed as he was pulled back by his shirt. He shortly fell into the fight, the crowd having seen him with Hiei, Kuwabara and Yusuke and assumed that he wanted the same thing that they did. Once Puu had been freed he rose up, his movements slow and juddering due to his carrying four adults and two children on his back, but he bravely kept going. Yusuke shouted at him to leave, but with the weight he was carrying, he could not get to a high enough altitude to pass over the rooftops of the tall, jagged buildings around the square. The crowd began throwing rocks at him in the hope of knocking him out of the sky, but a powerful and visible blue barrier quickly encased his entire being: whether Puu had created it or it had been the work of the ice maidens was uncertain, but it effectively repelled the stones and kept them all safe.

"What do we do now?" Kuwabara asked, elbowing back a protester and turning to Hiei.

"Why are you asking me?" Hiei asked before ducking out of the range of a punch aimed at his jaw.

"Well, you stormed this place, so you had to have a plan, right?" Kuwabara explained.

"Hiei never plans anything," Yusuke pointed out. "But you're right Kuwabara, we do need a plan. There's too many of these bastards, we won't make it out of here unless I blast them all, and that's not exactly something I want to do."

"We could just return the ice maidens to the residents of this city," Kurama offered. "Let's just insist that they don't auction them off, but rather let them freely cure the sick."

"Those women were chased out of their homes because of us!" Hiei argued. "We were the ones who left the SDF unattended in demon world, we should have made sure they left without getting involved! We have to protect those women: two of them are just children!"

"Hiei's right!" Kuwabara agreed. "They'll be tortured and killed, we have to get them out of here!"

"But how?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama sighed, watching as Puu clawed at the sloping sides of one of the lower buildings in a vain attempt to pull himself up and over it.

"We can escape here quite easily, we're not the target," he said, waving a hand to indicate the fact that the crowd was moving in whatever direction Puu went.

"They're not exactly fighting us because of what we did, they just want us out the way so they can be first in line," Yusuke added.

"Right, so we should get out of here," Kurama said.

"And leave Puu and the ice maidens?" Hiei asked.

"We'll come back for them," Kurama replied. "And we'll be better prepared for a venture like this when we do."

"You gotta plan?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes, I do. Try to keep up with me."

Kurama grabbed Hiei by the arm and dragged him from the stage – although he had not been fighting, he had been caught up amongst the mass of bodies trying to follow Puu across the square. Yusuke waited for Kuwabara who, being taller than most of the bodies around him, managed to push his way over to join them. As Kurama had expected, the only resistance they faced trying to cross the square came from those trying to follow Puu rather than anyone interested in fighting them because of what they had done. There was an alarming number of sick gathered there, and the more desperate faces they passed, the more acutely aware Kurama became that there was a genuine need for the ice maidens to assist where they could. He glanced down at Hiei, and saw that he looked positively wild and as angry as he had when he had first thrown himself at the stage: apparently seeing the mass of bodies chasing after the ice maidens had only further cemented his opinion of the situation too, which was going to make any attempts at convincing him otherwise virtually impossible. And, because he could see that Hiei was becoming quite emotional about the ice maidens' predicament, Kurama kept a tight hold of his arm as they navigated their way through the crowd.

Once they had made it down an alleyway and finally broken from the ranks of the sick, they all stopped to look back and assess the situation behind them. Puu was still keeping himself protected and out of reach of the crowd, but with demons leaning out of building windows and scaling drainpipes to rooftops, there was only so long he would be able to hold on.

"What's the plan, fox boy?" Yusuke asked, turning to Kurama.

"This way," Kurama replied, releasing Hiei and turning around. "There is a minor military complex not far from here. With any luck, it will be abandoned."

All four began running, Kurama leading the way.

"So you know this place?" Kuwabara asked.

"Very well," Kurama replied.

"Why are we going to boot camp?" Yusuke asked.

"We need to make a small acquisition."

Yusuke glanced at Kuwabara and Hiei in turn, and when he saw that both looked as confused as he felt, he turned back to Kurama.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"We're going to have to steal something," Kurama replied.

"I don't know that's such a good idea," Kuwabara said.

"I guess it depends what we're taking," Yusuke said. "Hey Kurama? What are we taking?"

"That."

Kurama slowed to a halt by a set of high, cross-wire gates. Beyond the gates was a low, dark building which looked quite ridiculous in the midst of the impossibly high buildings of the city around it. It was fenced off, and between the building and the fence was rough ground, mostly decorated with an assortment of jagged, bloodstained tools of torture.

"I don't get it," Yusuke concluded.

Kurama moved to the latch holding the gates closed, only partially surprised to find it locked.

"It's been a long time since I've done this," he said as he retrieved a thin length of metal from his pocket. "But hopefully Hiei will remember anything I may have forgotten."

Hiei stiffened, his eyebrows shooting upwards and disappearing behind his bandana.

"Done what?" Kuwabara asked as Kurama worked the metal pick he had into the lock.

"Driven a military vehicle."

Yusuke and Kuwabara exchanged looks of alarm and excitement before both turning back to Kurama.

"Are you serious?" Yusuke asked him, as the lock fell open in his hands. "I don't really care about taking orders from anyone in a uniform, but I think maybe stealing from the military is a bad idea."

"We don't have any other choice," Kurama replied, pushing open one of the gates.

"This is getting way more dangerous than it needs to be…" Kuwabara grumbled.

Kurama began jogging across the yard, hopping about occasionally to pick his way past the discarded weaponry. Yusuke followed him without hesitation, but Kuwabara and Hiei held back slightly, both too distracted by their surroundings to notice that they were falling behind.

"This is really bad…" Kuwabara muttered.

"It's so real," Hiei said, his voice light and quiet, his words almost lost in the breeze. "I can smell it, and I almost even taste it."

Kuwabara gave Hiei a strange look, and Hiei took several seconds to notice; but when he did he quickly adopted a stern scowl.

"Huh, what's the matter Kuwabara?" he asked, his voice almost back to normal. "Are you afraid?"

"Nuh-uh!" Kuwabara responded, his expression hardening. "You're the one that's shaking, shorty!"

He stomped on ahead, and, after looking down at one of his slightly quivering hands, Hiei hurried after him, joining the others by a large armoured vehicle. Kurama had climbed the short ladder at the side of the vehicle and prised open the door, but he had stopped there to look back down at the others.

"This one should provide us with enough protection to get to Puu and out of this city unharmed," he said. "After that, we go straight to Enki and report this entire affair to him."

"Right!" Yusuke agreed.

Kurama continued into the vehicle and Yusuke eagerly followed him. Kuwabara elbowed Hiei aside to climb up next, and Hiei hesitated long enough to glower up at Kuwabara before joining them inside the vehicle.

"I guess it's just like driving a car, right?" Yusuke commented.

"Have you ever driven a car before?" Kuwabara asked him.

"No," he replied.

"So then why did you… Never mind."

Kurama lay down on his back and slid himself under the dashboard, pulling at various wires experimentally.

"It's been a long time since I did this, I can't remember if it's the blue or the yellow wire to bypass the ignition," he muttered.

"What happens if you get it wrong?" Kuwabara asked.

"I make the fuel tank live and it explodes," Kurama calmly replied.

"What?!" Kuwabara yelped.

"Why don't you just use the key?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama paused, peering out between his tangled fingers at the Mazoku, who was holding up a key between his thumb and forefinger.

"Where did you get that?" Hiei asked.

"Same place everyone keeps their spare key," Yusuke replied with a shrug. "It was in the sun-visor."

Kurama slowly untangled himself and slid out from under the dashboard.

"Right, well, that certainly makes things a little easier," he agreed. "Have you ever driven one of these before?"

"Me?" Yusuke asked. "No. But it's probably no harder than driving a car, right?"

"You've never driven a car…" Kuwabara muttered.

Kurama eyed them both sceptically before rising to his feet and walking over to Hiei.

"I at least know that you know what to do," he said, holding out the key towards him. "Take us back to the plaza, I'm going to climb up to the top level and start working open the roof-hatch. We just need to get close enough for Puu to land on the roof, then I can guide his passengers down through the hatch."

Hiei, who had been staring at the key almost fearfully, slowly lifted his eyes to Kurama as he stopped speaking.

"M-maybe I should open the hatch and help the ice maidens on board," he said quietly.

"They don't trust you, least of all after your aggressive display back there," Kurama replied. "They think I'm a woman in disguise, I think they're more likely to trust me… And besides, you're not tall enough to reach the release mechanisms on the hatch."

Hiei lowered his eyes to the key again and gulped.

"You wanted this," Kurama reminded him, pushing the key into one of his hands and forcing his fist to close around it. "As soon as Puu has landed, move away as quickly as you can. Don't hold back. If you have to drive too fast for the ice maidens to safely come down that's fine, they can hang onto Puu until we reach a safer place."

Hiei opened his mouth as though to say something, but Kurama turned and ran off before he got the chance.

"Let's go, Hiei!" Yusuke said impatiently.

Hiei turned around to face the controls of the vehicle: a wide desk littered with buttons and levers and dials, an enormous steering wheel, three foot-pedals and a large, rotating, reclining chair lay before him. He carefully approached the chair, the controls looking no less daunting when viewed close-up than they had from the other side of the cockpit.

"I don't think my feet will reach the pedals," he said.

"Can't you just adjust the seat?" Kuwabara asked. "It's real easy, watch."

Kuwabara pushed the seat closer to the steering wheel and lowered it slightly.

"How did you know how to do that?" Hiei asked him.

"Just sit down and get us back to Puu already!" Yusuke snapped.

Hiei stumbled and scrambled his way into the chair, his feet hovering over the pedals and his hands dancing in the air above the steering wheel.

"Key goes in the ignition, numb nuts," Yusuke growled.

"I knew that!" Hiei snapped.

He leaned from side to side, forwards and backwards, his eyes darting about frantically.

"The key-hole over here?" Kuwabara said, pointing to a slot below one side of the steering wheel.

"Of course!" Hiei said ramming the key into place.

He squinted at the markers around the ignition before delicately pinching the head of the key between his thumb and forefinger and clicking it round. At the first click the dials around him illuminated, on the second click a navigation screen flickered to life and on the third the engine started. The whole vehicle lurched forward violently before the engine promptly died again. Kuwabara had been thrown to the floor and Yusuke had collided with the control desk. Hiei had managed to grab onto the steering wheel to steady himself, but he looked more surprised than they did.

"Maybe you should try putting it into neutral before you start the damn engine, Hiei!" Yusuke shouted.

Hiei touched the tip of one finger to his lips, his eyes scanning over the various controls in front of him.

"It's this one," Kuwabara offered as he stood up again. "The gearstick?"

Hiei watched him pull the largest of the levers, which rose up from the floor of the cabin, down and over to one side. He then looked up at Kuwabara, narrowing his eyes.

"How did you know that?" he asked.

"How did you not know that?" Kuwabara responded.

"I did know that!" Hiei snapped, turning his attention back to the controls.

He turned the key in the ignition again, and again the engine roared the life, this time without the vehicle moving. The cabin floor and walls vibrated with the growl of the engine, the rattling noise it created making it difficult to hear much of anything else.

"Take us out of here!" Yusuke yelled, his voice barely audible despite his effort.

"Put it into first and put your put down!" Kuwabara added.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Hiei yelled. "I can do this!"

He grabbed the gearstick – which was almost beyond the range of his short arms – and, after a brief glance at the numbers engraved onto it, he pushed it towards first gear. Yusuke and Kuwabara both winced as the gears screeched and scraped as Hiei tried to force the gearstick into place.

"What is wrong with you?" Yusuke cried.

"Put the clutch down before you use the gearstick!" Kuwabara added.

Hiei released the gearstick and peered down in the direction Kuwabara was pointing.

"It's the pedal on the left!" Kuwabara added.

"I knew that!" Hiei retorted, before stamping his foot down onto the pedal.

He grabbed the gearstick again and pushed it into first. When nothing happened, he looked up at Kuwabara expectantly.

"The accelerator, the pedal on the right," Kuwabara offered.

Hiei pushed his foot down onto the pedal as Kuwabara had suggested, and a revving sound filled the already noisy cabin.

"Foot off the clutch!" Kuwabara shouted.

Hiei sharply lifted his left foot and after another violent jolt forwards that threw Yusuke and Kuwabara to the floor again, the vehicle took off.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Hm, not so much happens next time, it's one of those talky chapters. Oh well. The team eventually manage to recover Puu and the ice maidens (despite Hiei maybe not really remembering how to drive), and they are forced to take desperate measures to avoid pursuit and capture by the desperate punters from the auction. The title of this fic has relevance and Hiei just keeps getting weirder. **Chapter 12: Politics and Polonecks**


	12. Politics and Polonecks

**Recap:** Hiei stormed the auction and, along with Kuwabara, an unsure Yusuke and an unwilling Kurama, he set free the ice maidens. The group were then forced to steal a military vehicle in order to make their escape: but unfortunately Hiei was having a few problems remembering how to drive.

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Politics and Polonecks**

"You're driving us straight into the fence!" Yusuke yelled.

"Change gear and steer it over this way!" Kuwabara yelled.

"Are you deliberately doing this badly?" Yusuke asked.

"Could you do any better?" Hiei snapped.

"No, he's never driven before!" Kuwabara answered.

"Yeah, and I bet even I wouldn't be this bad!" Yusuke said.

Yusuke and Kuwabara both cried out in alarm as they were sent flying across the cabin. Apparently mastering gear usage was not Hiei's only short-coming as a driver, as he began making sharp and exaggerated turns of the steering wheel.

"We're going to die before we even get back to Puu," Kuwabara groaned.

Yusuke grabbed the back of Hiei's chair and pulled himself to his feet. He looked out the windscreen and saw that they were at least heading towards the open gate.

"The middle pedal is the brake, by the way," he said sarcastically.

"I knew that!" Hiei snapped back.

Yusuke moved over to the navigation screen, pressing a few buttons experimentally.

"Maybe this thing can help us find a safe place to hide once we get out of the city," he said.

"Would it kill you to change gears, Hiei?" Kuwabara asked as he dragged himself up again.

"Yeah, and quit steering so hard that we fall on our asses!" Yusuke added, grabbing at the console to steady himself as Hiei turned the vehicle sharply again. "I know you think it's funny hurting Kuwabara, but you're hurting me too, tiny!"

"And use the clutch when your changing gears!" Kuwabara yelled as Hiei began crunching the gears again.

"How many times do I need to do that, anyway?" Hiei snapped, stamping on the clutch and filling the cabin with the sound of the engine revving freely.

"As many times as you need to!" Kuwabara replied.

"I knew that!"

Hiei finally managed to get the vehicle into second gear, returning his hand to the steering wheel and tightening his grip as he tried to aim through the gate.

"Right, as soon as we get Puu, we get the hell out of this city, right?" Yusuke asked.

"Uh, right," Kuwabara replied, leaning his head to the right.

"We need to figure out which way we go after that though," Yusuke said.

"Right," Kuwabara said, leaning his entire body to the right and wincing slightly.

"What are you – ah!"

Yusuke and Kuwabara were once more left staggering about as the left side of the vehicle hit one of the gateposts, the deafening shriek of metal scraping against metal radiating along the whole left side of the vehicle. Once they had finally passed through the gate and steadied onto the road ahead, Yusuke turned to Kuwabara, arching his eyebrows sarcastically.

"This way we'll be able to find it real easy when we park at the grocery store," he said flatly. "It'll be the one with the enormous dent all along one side."

Kuwabara groaned and rolled his eyes.

"That's assuming we even make it back to the market in one piece," Yusuke added. "We turned left here!" he snapped at Hiei.

Hiei stamped at the brake and began steering left.

"We turned left on the way here, turn right to take us back!" Yusuke cried.

Hiei quickly spun the steering wheel to the right, mounting the sidewalk and flattening a street sign but managing to make it onto the correct road. The vehicle chugged along sluggishly in second gear as Hiei merely pressed the accelerator harder in an attempt to pick up speed again.

"Hiei, when this is all over, we fight," Yusuke growled. "No holds barred."

Hiei cast him a dark glance before shifting up another gear, managing the action more smoothly than his previous attempts. Kuwabara sighed and moved over to one side of the cabin, sitting down with his back against the door. Yusuke put one hand on the back of Hiei's chair and the other on the navigation unit, leaning forwards over Hiei and watching out the window ahead.

"Do you need directions to get back to the auction?" he asked.

"That would be nice," Hiei replied, his eyes fixed onto the road ahead.

"I'm so glad I got cured of the virus before it made me as sick as you," Yusuke grumbled.

Hiei stole several nervous glances at him, his eyebrows knitted together in curious confusion.

"You-you were cured?" he asked.

"That's what Koenma told me," Yusuke replied. "He said only healing magic stops the virus turning deadly. Lucky for me, Kuwabara and Kurama we had Botan to help us out."

"What?" Hiei echoed.

"See Hiei, you always act like you're too good to be friends with Botan, but she can be useful too," Kuwabara said.

"What?" Hiei said, his head snapping around to look down at Kuwabara.

"Keep your damn eyes on the road!" Yusuke yelped.

Hiei turned back again, but his jaw was clenched tightly and his eyes thinned angrily. Yusuke continued directing him towards the market square and Hiei duly followed the instructions he was given, though he lost none of the tension in his jaw and shoulders as he did so. The remainder of the journey passed without too many mishaps until Hiei braked far too abruptly as they turned onto the road leading onto the market square, which was still crammed with bodies. Yusuke and Kuwabara cursed and complained respectively at Hiei's unnecessarily abrupt response, but Hiei ignored them, struggling a little with changing to a lower gear before slowly continuing.

Yusuke and Kuwabara moved to stand on either side of Hiei, leaning towards the windscreen to watch the crowds reluctantly part to allow their vehicle passage. The desperate sick around them looked quite pitiful, and Yusuke again found himself wondering how right Kurama had been about leaving the ice maidens behind to cure the sick, by any means necessary. As they neared the end of the road, Puu came into their line of vision, still hovering barely out of grabbing reach of the crowds. He was labouring to keep himself airborne, and the relief was almost obvious in his eyes as he noticed their approach. He opened his mouth, presumably calling out – though the sound did not reach Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei inside the vehicle – and started towards them.

"As soon as you hear him land, back up," Yusuke said to Hiei.

Hiei nodded, bringing the vehicle to a halt just inside the limits of the square to allow the spirit beast room to land. Kuwabara straightened away from the windscreen as the hoards turned to follow Puu's movements. Hiei looked down at the gearstick curiously as Puu's shadow fell over them. A moment later Puu's feet hit the roof with a resounding thud and a series of clattering sounds as his claws gripped on, and almost immediately afterwards desperate demons began scrambling up over the wheel-arches towards the windscreen.

"Get us out of here, Hiei!" Yusuke yelled desperately.

"I can't just drive into all those people," Hiei said, his tone far too calm for Yusuke's liking.

"Put it in reverse and put your foot down, Hiei!" Kuwabara cried.

"Reverse…?" Hiei muttered, peering over at the gearstick.

"R!" Kuwabara said. "R is for reverse! Put it into R!"

"I thought R was for Retard…" Yusuke muttered.

"So that makes the vehicle move backwards?" Hiei asked. "But I can't see what's behind the vehicle, I might hurt someone."

"And we might die if you don't get us out of here!" Kuwabara yelled.

Hiei sighed and moved the gearstick into reverse before stamping down onto the accelerator. Yusuke and Kuwabara barely missed smacking their heads against the windscreen as the vehicle shot backwards.

"Turn at the next crossroads and get us out of the city!" Yusuke said.

Hiei immediately spun the steering wheel, turning the vehicle sharply and crashing the rear-end into the corner of one of the jagged buildings.

"I hate you so much…" Kuwabara muttered as Hiei glanced at him.

"Just get us out of here," Yusuke said as Hiei glanced at him.

Hiei nodded and shifted gear again, driving across the street and mounting the opposite kerb, pulling desperately on the steering wheel in at attempt to turn fully around. The right side of the vehicle clipped the corner of another building, and again the sickening scraping of metal against metal filled the cabin.

"Hiei's a closet motor racing fan," Yusuke said to Kuwabara once the noise had stopped. "He just had to add racing stripes to both sides of this thing."

Kuwabara chuckled but Hiei merely looked confused.

"It's a human thing," Yusuke said, patting him on the shoulder.

"I don't understand," Hiei quietly replied.

"I know you don't," Yusuke said with a smile. "That's part of what makes it so funny."

To Yusuke's surprise, Hiei simply nodded and turned his full attention back to the road ahead. Their view of the city had became slightly tinted as Puu had apparently extended his protective barrier to enshroud not just himself but also the entire vehicle beneath him: which was just as well, as several of the less sick and more agile demons from the auction were running alongside them trying to find a way to board and take back the ice maidens.

"Go back and see if Kurama needs help," Yusuke said.

"Why me?" Kuwabara asked.

"Because that little girl thought you were a woman," Yusuke replied. "They're more likely to trust you than me."

"What?" Hiei grunted.

"That little girl you were babysitting thinks everyone is really a woman," Yusuke said. "Except me. She knows I'm a man. Must be my manly pheromones."

"Do you know what pheromones actually are?" Hiei asked.

"Yeah, and I bet I've got more of the little bastards than you do, Hime!"

"I think you're confusing pheromones with bacteria."

Yusuke twitched in irritation.

"Go check on Kurama, Kuwabara!" he barked, pointing towards the back of the cabin.

As Kuwabara left in search of Kurama, Yusuke turned to Hiei and began pulling faces and making offensive hand gestures behind his back.

"I can see you," Hiei said after a short silence.

"I guess it pays sometimes to have an extra eye…" Yusuke muttered.

"I can see your reflection in the glass," Hiei pointed out, nodding at the windscreen. "And I could hear you gesticulating."

"What?" Yusuke yelped.

"He said gesticulate, Yusuke," Kurama said as he joined them in the cabin.

"Right," Yusuke said. "But is that any better than him saying masturba–"

"Yes, it's not in the least offensive," Kurama cut him off.

"Okay… So did you get those chicks off the roof?"

"Eventually, yes. They won't come down out of the upper deck, but I've closed the hatch and they're sealed in here with us now."

"Do you think they'd like some tea?" Kuwabara asked.

"Great idea, Kuwabara," Yusuke groaned. "I'll just boil the kettle and prepare the teapot… Idiot!"

"Ice maidens don't drink tea."

Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara all turned to Hiei curiously.

"Shut-up, Hiei!" Kuwabara said. "Yukina makes tea every time I visit her!"

"Have you ever seen her drink any herself?" Hiei asked.

Kurama and Yusuke turned to Kuwabara expectantly, finding him looking almost painfully pensive.

"Yes!" he suddenly blurted out, making both Kurama and Yusuke flinch. "She always makes a bowl for herself too!"

"But does she drink it?" Hiei asked.

"Well, that's a stupid question!" Kuwabara snorted. "Why would she make it if she wasn't going to drink it!"

"Maybe she just did it so you wouldn't feel stupid being the only one drinking tea," Yusuke suggested.

"Why would she do that?" Kuwabara asked.

"Maybe she was too frightened to disagree with you," Kurama said. "Perhaps she was worried you would be offended or feel that you could no longer drink tea in her presence if she expressed her own dislike for it."

"That can't be true!" Kuwabara said.

"Of course it can't," Hiei said. "After all, wouldn't that require some degree of sensitivity on Yukina's part? And isn't she just another emotionally retarded ice maiden?"

"Hey, don't talk about Yukina that way!" Kuwabara snapped.

"I suppose it's not really a problem," Hiei continued. "Since Kuwabara has twice the emotional capacity of an average man, surely he can compensate for Yukina's shortcomings."

"I'll have you know I consider my high capacity for emotion to be a strength, not a weakness!"

"Huh."

Kuwabara scrunched up his face and took a step forwards towards Hiei, but Kurama put out a hand to stop him.

"Today has been a very difficult day for Hiei, and he is still sick, remember?" he said quietly when Kuwabara turned questioning eyes to him.

Kuwabara made a non-committal grunt and stepped back, and, taking this as his agreement not to escalate his bickering with Hiei into a full-blown battle, Kurama approached the console, stopping beside where Hiei was sat.

"I'll check on here to see if there are any underground hive networks we could escape through once we leave the city," he said, pushing some buttons on the navigation device.

Hiei glanced at him briefly before doing a distinct double-take and inadvertently jerking the steering wheel slightly, causing the others to stagger about and Yusuke to curse again.

"Try to keep us on a steady course for now," Kurama advised.

"What happened to you?" Hiei asked, his eyes enormous. "I don't remember you getting hurt so during our struggle back at that auction."

"I fell off the ladder when I was trying to reach the hatch," Kurama quietly replied. "Twice."

"Oh no!" Hiei said. "But why?"

Kurama grabbed the steering wheel and held it in place as Hiei almost jerked it around again, his hands instinctively following his eyes every time he stole a worried glance up at Kurama.

"I think we experienced a few uneven stops, starts and turns," he said patiently. "But if you can make sure that doesn't happen again, hopefully no-one else will get hurt."

"It's my fault?" Hiei yelped.

"It's fine, just concentrate on getting us out of the city," Kurama assured him.

"But I had no idea, I would never have said all those things about…"

Hiei slumped forwards slightly, but as he kept the vehicle moving, Kurama did not question him any further, instead concentrating on checking the navigation computer for any nearby entries into the underground network. The underground had once been a popular way for demons to traverse long distances in demon world – mostly because it avoided the issues of passing between any of the three territories demon world was once divided into – but even before Kurama had left demon world and taken up residence in living world as Shuichi Minamino the underground had become less frequently used. It was an unofficial network of tunnels dug many centuries before by a tribe of demons who lived in a hive network beneath the ground, exempt from the rule of Raizen, Yomi or Mukuro, and they had originally opened up their tunnels and charged others to pass through; but more powerful demons had quickly battled them into extinction, turning their lair into a hollow web of roads. But, without the original residents there to maintain the network, it had fallen into disrepair over time, some tunnels collapsing and others flooding. Going back into the underground network after so long was a gamble, but Kurama knew that the link from Illyria to the capital cities of Raizen's territory and Yomi's territory had been reasonably well looked after by the thieves like himself who had taken an interest in keeping it open.

After several failed attempts, Kurama eventually managed to find the dark spot on the map that indicated the hollow in the ground. It was a double-edged sword: going underground meant the demons currently running after them would stop following out of fear, but it also meant potentially meeting many more desperate souls who were far stronger and more violent. He looked down at Hiei, finding him still looking weakened, fretful and exhausted.

"We're going to have to go underground," he said, touching a hand to the back of Hiei's chair.

Hiei peered down at the gearstick.

"Which one does that?" he asked.

"What?" Kurama echoed.

"Well, R makes the vehicle move backwards, and one, two, three and four make it move forwards," Hiei replied. "Does five make it dig underground?"

The look of genuine curiosity on Hiei's face almost made Kurama think that he might not be as safe from the virus as he had thought, because he seemed to be going mad: surely he had just misheard Hiei?

"Underground," he said carefully, tapping at the screen of the navigation device. "We have to get to the entrance of the underground network, and take it to Gandara."

"Underground network?" Hiei asked.

"You… Never used the underground network?"

"No. I didn't know there was one."

Kurama began to try to remember exactly when the underground had started having structural issues, Hiei's comment about him being very old suddenly feeling sickeningly true as he realised that, by the time Hiei had been born, the majority of minor thieves – like those who raised Hiei – had probably already stopped using it.

"I suppose it was a little before your time," he eventually concluded.

As he looked down at Hiei again, he saw him looking a little flustered and anxious.

"It's an underground road system, basically," Kurama continued.

"Will we be safe there?" Hiei asked.

"In this vehicle, with Puu creating a barrier around us, we probably ought to be," Kurama replied.

"You don't sound very sure," Hiei pointed out.

"I'm not."

Hiei frowned up at him briefly.

"But we've started this now, there's no going back," Kurama said.

Hiei nodded, and they continued on in silence.

* * *

Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama all stumbled slightly as the vehicle halted a little abruptly. Hiei was staring out of the window in a state of wonder, and, as the others followed the direction he was looking, they all shortly took on a look of amazement themselves.

"Well I guess going undercover isn't gonna be an issue down here," Yusuke said, his eyes roaming over the seven other vehicles identical to their own already parked along one wall of the cave.

"This was what I had hoped for," Kurama said. "Move us in a little closer Hiei, then turn the engine off."

Hiei drove forwards a little further before stopping directly behind one of the other military vehicles. He turned off the engine as Kurama had asked, removing the key from the ignition.

"We should gather supplies before we go any further," Kurama advised. "And unfortunately I'm the only one who knows where to go and how to deal with the people down here."

"Why is that unfortunate?" Kuwabara asked, his lip curling as he watched a fanged lizard demon chase a cat demon past the side of the vehicle.

"Because the ice maidens trust me the most, and one of us will have to stay here," Kurama replied. "Puu's too big to fit inside this vehicle, and he is making us a little conspicuous, not to mention the fact that those women we have on board are doubly valuable down here, both as a cure to sell off to the sick and as jewel producers."

"I could stay behind," Hiei offered.

"No," Kurama said.

"You didn't even hesitate," Hiei said. "Don't you trust me?"

"The ice maidens fear you the most, and I want to keep you where I can see you."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't mind staying behind," Kuwabara offered. "It's dark and creepy out there, and unlike Urameshi and Hiei, I know the right way to treat a lady."

"Alright, thank you," Kurama said. "Yusuke, Hiei, stay close to me, try not to talk to anyone and try not to start any fights."

"Don't worry about me," Yusuke replied. "It's Hime you need to worry about. If he sees something sparkly, we might lose him."

"Leave the key with Kuwabara," Kurama said to Hiei.

Hiei, who was still glowering at Yusuke for his last remark, thrust his hand out towards Kuwabara, who cautiously plucked the key from between his fingers. Kurama opened the door, allowing Yusuke and Hiei to leave ahead of him.

"Don't harry the ice maidens while we're gone," he said to Kuwabara.

"Okay…" Kuwabara said slowly. "I won't Fred them either…"

Kurama waited for Kuwabara to give some indication that he had intended his last remark as a joke, and when he did not, Kurama stepped out of the door, positioning his feet onto the top rung of the ladder.

"Don't badger the ice maidens," he said.

"…There are badgers in demon world?" Kuwabara asked.

"Don't nettle the ice maidens," Kurama tried.

"Plants are your thing Kurama, not mine," Kuwabara replied.

"Don't needle the ice maidens."

"Like syringes or knitting needles?"

Kurama sighed.

"Don't pester them," he said.

"I'm not gonna pester them!" Kuwabara complained.

"Alright then," Kurama said, starting down the ladder.

"You know, if you just wanted to tell me to leave them alone, why didn't you just say so in the first place?" Kuwabara asked, leaning out of the doorway to watch Kurama climb down. "What was the point of all that stuff about Harry, badgers, nettles and needles?"

"Get back inside and shut the door!" Yusuke shouted up to him.

Kuwabara grumbled an insult against Yusuke and slammed the door shut, and Yusuke yelled his retort at the closed door.

"He can't hear you, you know," Hiei said.

"He can lip-read!" Yusuke replied, pointing at Kuwabara's face by the side windscreen.

"Let's just keep moving," Kurama suggested.

He began walking away from the vehicle and Hiei fell into step at his side, with Yusuke hurrying after them a few more mimed insults later. The area they had parked in was a large, almost circular opening they had reached after driving along a long tunnel that had been littered with rubble in a few places, making it barely passable for even one vehicle. Puu had flattened himself to the roof of the vehicle and he was still there, his beak tucked under one wing feigning sleep, despite his eyes being open and watching Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei as they moved away from him. As they walked, Yusuke and Hiei looked about themselves curiously at the ragged rocky walls, the other vehicles parked around the periphery of the cave, any particularly bizarre passers-by and the various small stalls in the middle of the opening, only stopping their actions when Kurama quietly warned them against making it too obvious that they had never been there before.

Kurama led them to a produce stall, where he began bargaining with the vendor, whilst Yusuke set about arranging various fruits and vegetables into rude positions, nudging Hiei and pointing at his efforts every so often, earning himself a indifferent look every time.

"Are you alright Sir?" a young woman asked as she began refilling a basket of oranges.

"I'm fine thank you," Kurama answered her.

"You look like you've been in a fight," she commented, her eyes running over the bruise forming on one side of his face, his cut lip and his burnt palms. "Are you running away from something?"

"I appreciate your concern, but it's unnecessary," Kurama replied.

"Yeah, you think he looks bad?" Yusuke cut in. "You should see how bad the other guy looks."

The girl's eyes started to sparkle and she smiled up at Kurama in a way that made Hiei's lip curl in disgust.

"You don't look like a powerful fighter," she said. "Are you a powerful fighter? I like powerful fighters."

"Excuse us," Kurama said, nodding politely.

He quickly picked up the bags and handed them to Yusuke before paying the vendor and ushering Yusuke and Hiei away from the stand again.

"I think you scored," Yusuke whispered loudly as they walked on.

"Nobody who works down here is to be trusted," Kurama darkly replied.

"She was pretty hot," Yusuke said.

"She's also deceptively dangerous and probably a lure," Kurama said.

"What's a lure?" Hiei asked.

"A seemingly innocent, pretty young female who joins a gang of powerful demons, who use her solely to draw in gullible fools they can rob," Kurama replied.

"How many times has that happened to you?" Yusuke asked.

"What makes you think I've ever fallen for the lure of one of those girls before?" Kurama asked.

Yusuke shrugged.

"Because if you hadn't told me what she was, I probably would have fallen for her tricks," he said.

"Kurama's too sensible to fall for something like that," Hiei said.

"Twice," Kurama said.

"Ha, I knew it!" Yusuke said.

"The first time it was through genuine ignorance that girls like her existed, and the second time was because I thought she was genuinely a lost innocent who had been taken prisoner."

Yusuke laughed until he noticed something, his cheer quickly fading.

"Hey!" he said. "Why am I the only one carrying any bags?"

"I need to keep my hands free to pay the vendors," Kurama replied. "And Hiei will be carrying the bags we get from the next stop we make."

"We already have food, what else do we need?" Hiei asked.

"Water," Yusuke suggested.

"No, there is a reserve of drinking water onboard the vehicle already," Kurama replied. "We need clothes."

Yusuke and Hiei both stopped walking, each looking as surprised and confused as the other. Kurama continued on without them, approaching a row of three stands selling various items of everyday casual clothing. Yusuke glanced over at the nearby stands selling armour and Hiei eyed the stands selling battle dress; but Kurama had willingly walked beyond both, and chosen the stands selling clothing more suited to relaxing at home than working out or fighting. Kurama walked up and down the length of the three stands before turning around and approaching Yusuke.

"Call Botan," he said.

"Why?" Hiei immediately asked.

"I need some advice, and I want to make sure she has returned to spirit world, where she will be safe from anyone hunting her for her healing powers," Kurama replied.

Hiei nodded, though he still looked a little sceptical. Yusuke fished his communicator out of his pocket with his free hand and passed it to Kurama, who proceeded to call Botan. There was a short delay before she answered, her confusion at seeing Kurama's face greet her obvious in her tone when she did.

"I can see you're back in spirit world, which is a relief," Kurama said.

"Yes, Lord Koenma made me return here, and he's confining all ferry girls to their rooms," Botan replied. "It's incredibly boring, we're stuck up here with ogres patrolling the doors to keep us in. I hope you boys fix that problem in demon world soon, I can't stand being locked up like this!"

"Well, that's a little bit of a grey area, Botan," Kurama replied, glancing at Hiei.

"I thought the ice maidens were curing people?" she responded.

"No," Hiei said. "They were taken against their will and forced to use their powers! The conditions they're being held in are far worse than yours: I'm sure they would be glad to be restricted only to their own homes rather than being contained in cages too small for them to lie down in!"

Kurama narrowed his eyes at Hiei, but Hiei maintained his stern and determined look.

"Don't they want to help the sick?" Botan asked.

"No, they just want to return to their village," Kurama answered her.

"Which is their right," Hiei pointed out.

"But they can't let everyone else fall ill and die," Botan said. "And if they don't help the sick, we ferry girls will never be safe outside of spirit world! Don't they realise what they're doing? How are we supposed to continue our duties in living world when we can't even leave our rooms?"

"Don't worry Botan, we're going to convince them to help," Kurama assured her. "I promise you'll be free to fly around the skies of living world before you know it."

"You're siding with those who enslaved my people just because doing so means making Botan happy?" Hiei asked quietly.

"This is a far more complicated matter than that and you know it," Kurama quietly answered him.

"Oh dear, it's become quite a political conundrum between our two worlds, hasn't it?" Botan said.

"Yes, but the most important thing for now is that you are safe, Botan," Kurama said.

"Yes, that's absolutely the most important thing," Hiei growled. "Never mind that ninety percent of the population of the ice village are being sold like bags of corn…"

Hiei turned his head from the others, his jaw squared again and his eyes thinned in displeasure.

"You were right Botan," Kurama said. "It is becoming quite the political conundrum. But there is another reason I called you. You are an expert of disguise, and I need your advice."

"What?" Hiei muttered, turning back to look directly at Kurama.

"I need to visually disguise a group of women," Kurama continued. "On sight alone, their clothing gives away their identities, and I need to change that. I don't want to dress them in anything that suggests they are fighters, because obviously they are not, but I do need them to look as inconspicuous as possible. Do you have any suggestions?"

"…You want to dress up a group of women…?" Botan asked.

"It's a long story," Kurama replied, smiling slightly. "I'll explain it to you when I return to living world. Perhaps over dinner?"

"Ask her on a date some other time, fox boy," Yusuke complained. "These bags are starting to rip, so let's make this quick."

"Okay, well, I suppose you want to dress them in neutral colours?" Botan suggested.

"Right…" Kurama said. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"It means neutral colours," Hiei snapped. "Like grey, beige and brown."

"Figures you would know, Hime," Yusuke muttered under his breath.

"Alright, we'll try that," Kurama said to Botan.

"And if you're trying to blend in, you should probably choose something that's currently fashionable," she added. "What's currently fashionable in demon world?"

Kurama glanced at Hiei and Yusuke, who both shrugged.

"We can ask the merchants here," Kurama concluded. "Thank you Botan. And please don't force your way out. I know it's hard to be confined as you are, but Koenma had your best interests at heart when he gave the order to have you contained in your quarters."

"But it's not fair," Botan moaned. "You boys get to go out there and have all the fun, and I get left behind without even knowing what's really going on!"

"I'll fill you in when we get back, I promise," Kurama assured her. "Good bye, Botan."

"Bye Kurama."

Kurama closed the communicator and found Hiei glaring at him and Yusuke smirking at him.

"I bet you'll "fill her in" when we get back!" Yusuke said, his smirk turning into a grin.

"Don't be puerile," Hiei scolded him.

"What's your problem, Hime?" Yusuke asked him. "Are you jealous?"

Hiei glanced at Kurama, his anger vanishing for long enough to show a genuinely conflicted and slightly guilty expression on his face before he once more managed to hide his true feelings behind an angered scowl.

"Huh, you're an idiot!" he said to Yusuke.

"Let's continue, shall we?" Kurama suggested, hoping to prevent an argument breaking out. "Botan said we need neutral colours."

"For what?" Hiei asked, hurrying after Kurama as he approached the clothing stalls again. "To dress up those women in outfits they don't understand or feel safe in?"

"Nobody in demon world wears hand-stitched silk kimonos and crystal hairpins," Kurama pointed out. "On sight alone, they stand out. If we disguise them visually, then they can move freely about the vehicle without fear of being spotted through the front windscreen by someone who would do them harm."

Hiei twitched but said nothing, which Kurama took to mean that the fire demon accepted his reasoning.

"Botan said we should pick neutral colours, so let's just find four medium-sized outfits in neutral colours, one small and something that looks like it would fit the little girl," Kurama said to Yusuke and Hiei.

"And you trust Botan's opinion explicitly?" Hiei asked, picking up a woolly grey sweater.

"Of course," Kurama replied. "She's very sensible about these matters."

"Not so sensible about political matters though…" Hiei muttered.

"She's not an idiot, no matter what you might think," Kurama said sternly.

"I dunno Kurama," Yusuke said, poking experimentally at a pointed felt hat. "Botan can be a bit of a ditz at times."

"Exactly," Hiei said, picking up another sweater and holding it up against himself. "Can we trust the opinion of a woman who probably doesn't even know her politics from her polonecks?" he asked Kurama.

"Yes we can trust her," Kurama replied, snatching the sweater from Hiei.

Hiei turned to Yusuke who shrugged indifferently.

"Buying the clothes is fine, but getting those women to wear them is whole different ball game," he said.

"Yes, exactly!" Hiei said, nodding in agreement.

"We'll take these," Kurama said to the salesman, pointing to the pile of clothing he had gathered.

"And this," Yusuke added, throwing over the pointed hat.

"What for?" Hiei asked, eying it over incredulously.

"Fun?" Yusuke replied.

"Fun?" Hiei echoed.

"Yeah, it's that word that describes what happy people like to do with their spare time."

"I know how to have fun."

"Sure you do. Except, for most people, fun is messing around and relaxing and playing games. Not, you know, cutting things open to see how much they bleed, practising witty one-liners in front of a mirror and using a rack to try to grow a few damn inches."

"I rarely use a mirror for anything."

"No shit."

Yusuke grinned as Hiei glowered at him and Kurama collected up the bags of clothing he had just bought.

"Here," he said, passing the bags to Hiei.

Hiei took the first few, but hesitated when Kurama handed him the remaining bags too.

"I would carry some myself, but someone burnt the skin off the palms of my hands, and they're still a little sensitive," Kurama replied, holding up one hand to indicate his point.

Hiei's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the wounds on Kurama's palm, and he numbly accepted the remainder of the bags. All three started back towards their vehicle in silence until Kurama had to again quietly remind Yusuke and Hiei to stop looking around as though they were amazed by their surroundings – which of course they were, but by making their true feelings known, they highlighted themselves as newcomers and put themselves at risk of being targeted by muggers.

Once they arrived back at the vehicle Kurama climbed up to the door first, waving at Kuwabara who was standing by the window to let him know he was about to open the door. Yusuke moved his bags into one hand and followed after Kurama with Hiei climbing up last, struggling to keep his balance as he hoisted the bags up with him. Once he had eventually made it through the door he gladly dropped the bags and pressed the back of one hand to his hairline to soak up the sweat gathering there.

"What's up with you?" Yusuke asked.

Hiei and Kurama turned to see what he was talking about and found Kuwabara standing with one hand clamped under his armpit.

"I weaseled the ice maidens," he reluctantly confessed.

"After I specifically told you not to?" Kurama asked.

"I thought maybe they wanted to come down from the roof space," Kuwabara explained. "I put my hand up to help them and this happened."

He took out his hand, revealing that his skin was deathly pale and surrounded by a small cloud of steam.

"Run it under a hot tap, idiot!" Yusuke said.

"No, it's too badly frozen for that," Kurama said. "You need to warm it gradually. You may have suffered lasting damage though. That looks like severe frost-bite."

"What?" Kuwabara yelped. "If it's that badly frozen, shouldn't I just put it in hot water?"

"No!" Kurama and Hiei said in unison.

"But…"

"I'm going to negotiate with our guests, Yusuke, Hiei make sure he doesn't put his hand in hot water."

Kurama picked up one of the bags of food and left the cabin, heading back towards the access ladder to the roof storage area the ice maidens were still concealed in. Yusuke watched him go before turning to Hiei.

"Where's the toilet?" he asked.

"Excuse me?" Hiei echoed.

"I need to use the little boys' room, where is it?" Yusuke asked.

"In the back, on the right," Kuwabara replied.

"There's a toilet in this vehicle?" Hiei asked.

"Well, I think it's a toilet…" Kuwabara said slowly. "I mean, I hope it's a toilet…"

"Ah, good enough for me," Yusuke said. "Hiei, make sure Kuwabara doesn't put his hand in cold water."

"Hot water," Hiei corrected him.

"Right…" Yusuke said. "I was just testing you, making sure you were paying attention and knew what to do."

Yusuke clawed through the bags he had been carrying, eventually selecting an apple and leaving with it. Hiei turned to Kuwabara, who flinched as their eyes met.

"Is he going to eat at the same time as using the toilet?" Hiei asked.

"…What is it with you and your obsession with other people's bathroom habits?" Kuwabara asked.

Hiei's eyes moved to Kuwabara's hand.

"It doesn't hurt," Kuwabara lied, trying to keep his face straight as he looked at his hand. "I just can't really move my fingers."

"I can fix it for you," Hiei said, moving towards him.

"You're not gonna set me on fire, are you?" Kuwabara asked cautiously.

"No, heat really isn't the best way to treat an ice burn," Hiei replied, grabbing Kuwabara's wrist and pulling his hand down to better inspect the damage.

"Ice is cold, it doesn't burn!"

"When referring to a wound, the word "burn" describes the effect, not the cause."

"What the hell does that mean?"

Hiei did not answer Kuwabara, but Kuwabara shortly forgot what he had asked as Hiei turned his hand over and placed both of his bandaged hands over it. His touch was surprisingly light, but that only made Kuwabara all the more suspicious about his true motives: after all, Hiei had never exactly been his best friend. Hiei had never actually been his friend. Hiei had often almost killed him and shown no remorse afterwards. And yet now he appeared to be doing something helpful for him, because Kuwabara could feel a tingling in his hand as the effects of having it frozen began to wear off.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

He had to know – it made no sense, after all. Hiei sighed and gave an answer that shocked them both.

"I don't know, Kazuma."

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** The ice maidens are being very uncooperative, and when the gang reach a roadblock and one of the ice maidens dares to leave her hiding place things only get worse. **Chapter 13 – Tense Negotiations**


	13. Tense Negotiations

**Recap:** The gang stole a military vehicle and rescued a group of ice maidens from being auctioned off as cures to the virus, but the ice maidens were hostile and wary despite their assistance. They were forced to travel underground to escape capture and Hiei continued to be weird.

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Tense Negotiations**

"What did you just call me?"

"Kahuna."

"Kahuna?"

"Yes, that's right, Kahuna."

"Who's Kahuna?"

"You."

"…What does it mean?"

"It's a demon word. It means… Idiot."

"Oh… Cause it sorta sounded like you called me Kazuma."

"Why would I call you that?"

"Because that's my name?"

"I thought your name was Kuwabara?"

"Well it is, but… Never mind."

"You're done."

Hiei snatched back his hands and spun around, presenting Kuwabara with his back. Kuwabara flexed his fingers experimentally, surprised to find them once more fully functional and only a little numb. A brief glance over his skin confirmed that he had sustained no lasting injury – which was something of a miracle – but he was so distracted by Hiei's slip-up, he barely cared about his hand any more.

"Um, Hiei?" he said awkwardly. "Look, about what happened with those wood nymphs, and then the next morning when we woke up and we were, you know, sort of sleeping together, I just wanted you to know that I'm not gay."

Hiei turned his head, looking back over his shoulder at Kuwabara. It was the sort of look he usually gave someone he had just issued a death threat to and Kuwabara welcomed it.

"Not that there's anything wrong with being gay," he continued. "But I'm not gay. And neither is Kurama, so you know, you're probably wasting your time with him too."

Hiei narrowed his eyes slightly but said nothing.

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara called out, his voice cracking slightly. "I need to use the bathroom, are you done yet?"

Kuwabara hurriedly stomped along the walkway to the bathroom door and began banging a fist against it. Yusuke cursed at him from the other side of the door and the two shortly dissolved into a shouting match through the door, leaving Kurama groaning in frustration as their bickering frightened the one ice maiden who had been brave enough to climb down from the roof space. He looked up in time to see a swish of orange silk above his head as she once more concealed herself into the space above him. It had taken a great deal of coaching to encourage her down, including repeating over and over that none of the men onboard were rude or violent, and in an instant Yusuke and Kuwabara had undone all his hard work.

"Oh Hiei, go away," he said dismissively as Hiei joined him.

"What?" Hiei echoed.

"I'm sorry to be so blunt, but these women will never come down with you here," Kurama replied.

Hiei looked up, leaning from side to side in an attempt to locate any sign of life above them. Kurama put a hand on his chest to keep him at arms' length, his action making Hiei flinch and stagger back a step, a hint of colour spreading over his cheeks.

"Please Hiei, let me handle this," Kurama said. "And, as you can probably feel, they're creating a lot of cold air around here. You're sick and you don't have your cloak any more, you should stay in the driver's cabin and switch on the fan heater to keep warm."

Hiei started to suggest that the cold air was actually welcome but he stopped short as something moved above them and both he and Kurama looked sharply up expectantly.

"Hiei?" a voice called down to them.

One of the ice maidens was peering over the ledge at the top of the ladder, her expression made up of equal parts of curiosity and concern. A voice whispered something indiscernible behind her and she turned her head slightly before nodding and peering down again.

"You," she said, pointing a finger at Hiei. "The little manly one. Are you Hiei the emiko?"

Hiei opened his mouth to answer her but stopped abruptly when Kurama touched a finger to his lips.

"Who's asking?" he called up to the ice maiden.

"There was a boy cast from our village once," she answered. "He was called Hiei. He was dark and evil and he wanted to kill us all. If that is Hiei, we want you to take us back to Illyria."

"What?" Yusuke yelled, stomping over to join Kurama and Hiei at the base of the ladder.

"Hiei tried to kill us when he was born," the ice maiden replied. "And he was but a baby then. He's a grown man now, he will surely torture us far worse than those men in Illyria would have."

"Hey, you ungrateful bitch, we risked our necks saving your lives!" Yusuke shouted. "People are dying because you won't help them, now shut the hell up and get down here, or I'm gonna come up there and drag you all down here by those stupid spiky things on your heads!"

"Yusuke…" Kurama said through a sigh.

"Hey, I was on the fence about this whole thing, but you were right Kurama!" Yusuke said to him. "We should have just left them there. Seriously Hiei, what the hell were you thinking?"

Yusuke rounded on Hiei, but before either of them could say any more, the ice demon above them spoke again.

"Hiei led the charge to free us from that place?" she asked.

"Yes, he did," Kurama replied. "And do you know why?"

"Yes, I do," she said. "He wanted the satisfaction of pulverising our frail bodies with his own filthy man hands!"

"No!" Kurama said quickly. "You misunderstand!"

The ice maiden darted out of sight again and Hiei leapt at the ladder, scaling three rungs before Kurama and Yusuke both grabbed him to halt his progress.

"You're wasting your time," Yusuke said. "Let's just take them to Enki, make sure none of them have to be sold at auctions, and let the government decide what to do with them after that."

"That's not good enough!" Hiei protested. "What if there are other auctions, just like the one we broke up, going on in other cities?"

"Those bitches don't even want our help!" Yusuke argued back.

"But what about the children?" Hiei asked.

Yusuke's anger melted into confusion and surprise.

"Never thought I'd live to hear you say those words, Hiei…" he muttered.

"They have to make a choice, just like the adults," Kurama said.

"But they don't have a choice to make!" Hiei said. "They were forced from their homes and now they're being sold in cages! Where was the chance for them to make a decision there?"

"They could have decided to help," Kurama insisted. "When they were first taken down from their village, they could have agreed to cure the sick, but instead they refused. Some of the ice maidens being held against their will may well be children, but what about those dying of the virus?"

"How would you feel if it was your mother being sold like that?"

Hiei glanced back and forth at Yusuke and Kurama, to let them know that he was directly the question at both of them.

"I never said I agreed with the auction itself," Kurama said, maintaining a calm tone despite growing increasingly agitated. "But I certainly don't agree that the only chance of curing this virus and saving lives should be allowed to walk away from the problem."

"Hey, arguing this isn't getting us anywhere," Yusuke said, stepping fully between Kurama and Hiei. "I think my plan is the best one, so that's the one we're going with: we leave those women with Enki and let him decide how to handle this."

"What if he auctions them off too?" Hiei asked.

"He wouldn't do that," Yusuke replied.

"Yusuke's right Hiei," Kurama said. "This problem is longer ours to solve. And besides, don't you want to be cured? If you let the ice maidens return to their village without helping anyone, you won't get help from anyone either. Do you really want to stay as you are?"

Hiei looked up at the entrance to the roof space, as though expecting one of the ice maidens to emerge again. When none did, he lowered his head and turned away, pushing past Yusuke to make his way back to the driver's cabin at the front of the vehicle.

"Well this is fun," Yusuke said to Kurama once he was sure that Hiei was out of earshot.

"I'm concerned that we're wasting time here," Kurama solemnly replied.

"Yeah, I think you're probably right," Yusuke agreed, peering up the length of the ladder. "Those bitches didn't even want rescuing, and if we'd left them where they were, they might have started curing people by now."

"It's not so much the ice maiden problem that concerns me. I'm far more concerned about the fact that Botan has been contained within her own quarters in spirit world."

"Botan's tougher than she looks, I'm pretty sure she can handle a few days in her room."

"It's not her individual case I'm referring to."

"…Be less vague?"

"With demons hunting ferry girls, there is a need to contain them within spirit world, but why has that need extended to containing them within their own rooms under constant surveillance?"

"In case they miss the smell of dead bodies and decide to wander out on their own?"

"No, I think it's because the demons who started all of this are still holding their ground in spirit world."

"I thought Koenma said the SDF would handle them?"

"He said they would, but we've had no confirmation that they have yet. We're wasting our time here because I think spirit world has more need of us than demon world at present."

"Well, I wouldn't mind another chance to beat the crap out of Fabio."

Yusuke smacked a fist into his open palm and grinned at Kurama, who attempted a smile, if only because Yusuke's enthusiasm never failed to amuse him.

"Since the ice maidens won't come down, I suggest we all eat and then move on," Kurama said. "And since Hiei is a little highly-strung at the moment, I'll drive the remainder of the journey."

* * *

"Damn it, what now?" Yusuke groaned, pressing his forehead against the windscreen and squinting at the view outside.

Kurama had taken over driving as he had said he would, and the journey along the tunnels of the underground had become an increasingly slow and difficult one, as they continually came across impassable ravines that forced them to reverse all the way back to the nearest junction, flooding that caused the vehicle to lose its grip on the road and forced them to reverse all the way back to the nearest junction and low ceilings that forced them to stop while Puu climbed down and then to stop again when it was safe for him to climb back up again.

Kurama leaned forward and pushed a button on the control console, holding it down to a faint buzzing sound, the headlights rising up to better illuminate the road ahead of them. Kurama had stopped because he had seen the obstruction on the navigator, but Yusuke was too impatient – and now too tired – to bother learning how to read it, and so Kurama decided just to show him the problem. He released the button as the shadows ahead of them began to change shape, the headlights continuing to rise for a second longer before halting, clearly showing a pile of rubble in the middle of the road.

"I'll blast it," Yusuke said, sliding down from his position sat atop the control console.

"No, we don't know what's on the other side," Kurama warned.

"So we have to turn back again?" Yusuke asked.

"No, we're very close to a parking bay, and from there it's less than half a mile to Gandara," Kurama replied.

"…I thought we were going to see Enki?"

"That option was denied us several blocked tunnels ago, I'm afraid. Gandara was the nearest place of influence I could get us to. The network television station is close by the exit from the underground, perhaps we can find out more there about the situation around the world."

"So how do we get past the rocks?"

Kurama smiled humourlessly and pulled on the parking brake. He turned off the engine and stood from his chair, pushing his sleeves up over his elbows.

"I'll wake Hiei, you see to Kuwabara," he said, nodding towards the back corner of the cabin where Kuwabara had fallen asleep bundled up in a space blanket.

"We're moving the rocks manually?" Yusuke asked.

"We don't know what's on the other side, we can't risk any aggressive movement," Kurama replied, crossing the cabin.

"What's the worst that could happen if I just blasted it a little bit?"

"You compromised the structural integrity of the entire tunnel and it collapsed in on us, the weight surely crushing us all or at the very least suffocating us before we could dig our way out."

"…You're a cheery son of a bitch."

Kurama forced another smile and moved on, leaving Yusuke to wake Kuwabara. Hiei had left the cabin some time earlier, and Kurama expected to find him asleep on one of the luggage shelves lining the walls of the vehicle: but instead he found Hiei sitting at the foot of the ladder to the roof hatch, his legs bent up in front of him supporting a thick book he was apparently thoroughly engrossed in reading.

"Hiei?" Kurama said.

Hiei started, blinking to focus his eyes as he lifted them to Kurama.

"We've encountered a roadblock, we need to go outside and clear it," Kurama told him.

Hiei looked up the ladder.

"Don't worry, we won't be going far, and Puu will stay on the roof, the ice maidens will be safe," Kurama added.

Hiei folded over the page he had been reading and placed the book down on the floor. As he stood up, Kurama peered over at the title of the book, surprised to find that it was an instruction manual for the vehicle they were using. He quickly hid his curiosity as Hiei made to pass him, their closeness making Kurama suddenly aware of just how cold it was standing so close to the cluster of ice maidens hiding above them.

"You shouldn't linger here," he told Hiei. "It's far too cold, and you're still sick, you should be keeping warm."

"I like the cold," Hiei flatly replied.

"No you don't…"

Hiei edged past Kurama and continued towards the cabin, where Yusuke and Kuwabara were already making their way outside. Kurama hurried after him, grabbing his shoulders from behind to halt his progress before he reached the door.

"Hiei, you're cold to the touch," he said, alarmed at just how cold Hiei's skin felt beneath his palms. "There's no need for you to sit so close to the ice maidens, stay in the cabin from now on, where it's warm."

"I'm fine, stop fussing," Hiei grumbled, shrugging Kurama's hands from his shoulders.

He hopped out the door after Kuwabara and Kurama followed, all four reuniting by the pile of rocks.

"Those lights are blinding me," Kuwabara said, shielding his eyes against the headlines of the vehicle.

"We need those lights to see what we're doing, dumbass," Yusuke pointed out.

"Oh, yeah, right…"

"Let's make this quick," Kurama said. "Kuwabara, you're the tallest, you clear the middle, where the rocks are piled highest. Yusuke, you and I will take either side of him and Hiei you clear the lower sections at the sides and make sure everything we take down it piled close to the walls so that we can definitely pass through."

"What about that huge rock at the bottom?" Yusuke asked, pointing at a rock almost as tall as he was and half as wide as it was high.

"We'll have to clear around it first and then we'll all push it together," Kurama replied.

The others nodded and set about their tasks quickly and quietly, the only sounds around them being the occasional yawn from Kuwabara. They worked that way for several minutes before Yusuke suddenly stopped, dropping a large rock and narrowly missing squashing his own feet. Kuwabara frowned at him expectantly, but Yusuke's eyes were wide and looking in another direction. Kuwabara, Kurama and even Hiei all paused in their tasks long enough to clearly see the two figures standing halfway between them and the vehicle. Even though the headlights threw most of their features into shadow, it was clear that the two standing there were Rikka and her mother, both dressed in the clothes Kurama had bought for them at the market.

"Let them do what they want," Yusuke eventually said, breaking the silence. "I just wanna get out of here."

He carried on working and the others gradually followed his lead, though all of them remained conscious of the pair of ice maidens watching them. Hiei paused when Rikka's mother leaned down to whisper something to her daughter, who nodded and ran off, but as she turned back towards them, Hiei quickly turned away again and carried on working. The ice maiden crept closer, her movements barely audible, her eyes darting between all four boys as she moved.

"I thought they were running away from us?" Kuwabara whispered to Yusuke.

"Just shut-up and keep moving rocks," Yusuke whispered back.

Kuwabara frowned but Yusuke groaned and shook his head, hoisting up a boulder big enough to fill his arms and turning around to move it to the side of the road, only to almost drop it when he found himself suddenly face-to-face with the ice maiden.

"Uh… Hey…" he said awkwardly.

She bowed her head but said nothing, and so he stepped around her, placing it down by the tunnel wall.

"Hi, how's it going?" Kuwabara said as he found himself alone with the woman.

She bowed her head again before moving her hands to a large rock near the top of the pile. Kuwabara watched in a state of wonder as the clammy surface of the rock slowly crystallised and became reflective, like glass. As the rock froze, the smaller chippings above it began to slide away on either side, before the rock itself began to move, slipping forwards and falling down on the other side of the blockade.

"Oh, uh, you wanna help us clear the road?" he asked.

The ice maiden gave him a faint hint of a smile, though he found her gesture no more reassuring: her exceptionally pale complexion and pale lavender hair looked almost luminous against the dark colours of her clothing and under the glare of the headlights.

"Why?" Yusuke asked, stopping behind her.

Her head whipped around, her eyes looking up at him warily, but still she said nothing.

"Never mind why," Hiei said to Yusuke. "If she wants to help, maybe you should just let her instead of assuming she'll only get in the way."

"Okay, Hime…" Yusuke muttered.

Hiei ignored his response, diligently continuing with his work.

"Okay fine," Yusuke said to the ice maiden in front of him. "If you wanna help, go ahead, knock yourself out."

He moved to continue his work and Kuwabara cautiously returned to the task at hand too: but all four continually glanced over at the pale and frail woman in a ridiculously oversized grey woollen poloneck and chocolate brown slacks with the ends rolled up twice to stop herself tripping over. She moved a considerable number of rocks, though with little effort, as she froze everything she touched, allowing her to slide the rocks about. Before too long, all the rocks had been moved from the road, and all that remained was the one large boulder. The four boys stopped to consider their options, but the ice maiden continued towards it, pressing her hands against it and freezing it over.

"Hey, that makes things easier, right?" Yusuke said, smiling and starting towards the rock.

The others followed him and all five gradually slid the giant rock to one side of the road.

"Can we get past that?" Kuwabara asked, squinting back at the vehicle.

"We might scrape the sides a little, but it should be alright," Kurama replied.

"Well it can't be any worse than the damage Hime already did," Yusuke commented.

"Huh," Hiei grunted, scowling at him angrily.

Kuwabara yelped as something poked at the back of his knee, looking down over his shoulder to see Rikka holding a tray with five flasks on it.

"I hope you don't mind," her mother said, surprising the others by finally speaking out loud. "I thought this work might make you thirsty, so I asked my daughter to prepare some refreshments for us."

"That sounds good to me," Yusuke said, looking around the others.

"I'm thirsty, a drink sounds good to me too!" Kuwabara said, reaching down towards the tray of flasks.

Hiei caught his arm, halting his movements, but when Kuwabara turned to him to ask why, Hiei was turned towards the ice maiden.

"We have tried to help you," he said in a low voice. "It would be very despicable of you to attempt to harm us."

"I understand your wariness, Sir," the ice maiden replied. "But I promise you that I mean you no harm."

"Wait, are you asking if she's trying to poison us?" Yusuke asked.

"It does seem strange that she should have this sudden change of heart," Kurama pointed out.

The ice maiden looked around the others before nodding her head.

"I didn't want to stay in Illyria," she said. "I didn't want to leave the ice village, I just want to go home. We tried to escape, my daughter and I, but they came after us. I did all I could to let my daughter escape without me, but when those men put us in cages and we realised that our people are being hunted and abused all over this world, I thought my child had been killed for sure. I was so relieved to see her alive, and I have all of you to thank for that. Please, the least I can do is help you in any way I can. The flasks are just filled with fruit juice and ice, nothing sinister, I promise. I'll drink from each of them myself to prove their validity if you wish."

"Nah, that's okay, I trust you," Yusuke said, helping himself to a flask. "Where did you get this stuff?"

"There's a bunch of lunchboxes and flasks in the cupboard I got my blanket from," Kuwabara said, taking a flask. "And we bought the fruit, right?"

"Thank you, but it's not necessary for you to wait upon us," Kurama said to the ice maiden.

"Aren't you thirsty?" she asked. "I thought you would be more worn out by this exercise than any of the others, Miss."

Yusuke and Kuwabara snorted into their hands in amusement and Hiei rolled his eyes at them.

"Please Miss, you need to look after yourself too," the ice maiden insisted, picking up a flask and offering it to Kurama.

"Alright, but please don't feel you need to serve us," he said, accepting her offer.

She nodded her head and picked up the last two flasks, holding one out towards Hiei.

"No thank you," he said quietly.

"But–"

"There aren't enough to go around. You and your daughter have those two, I'm fine."

"I didn't work as hard as you did, Mister Hiei. I can share with my daughter, neither of us need as much as a man."

Hiei looked at the flask, an array of emotions flashing across his eyes before his expression settled into a grumpy grimace and he snatched the flask from her.

"So where are your friends?" Yusuke asked, sitting down onto one of the rocks they had cleared by the side of the road.

"Yeah, aren't they hungry or thirsty up there?" Kuwabara asked, sitting down on the ground by Yusuke's feet.

Kurama and Hiei sat down onto rocks on either side of Yusuke, and Rikka and her mother knelt down on the ground before them.

"It's difficult for us," the ice maiden began. "None of us had ever seen anyone outside of our own village before today. Had you not saved my daughter so bravely, I would not have come down either."

"So they're still up there?" Yusuke asked.

"Where did you think they were?" Kuwabara asked.

"I thought they might run away after what they said before about Hiei," Yusuke replied.

"What did they say about Hiei?" Kuwabara asked.

Yusuke froze, his flask tilted against his lips and his eyes wide.

"Kuwabara was in the toilet when we had that conversation, Yusuke," Kurama quietly reminded him.

"I remember Hiei, actually," the ice maiden said. "We all do – well, except the young girls with us. I didn't see him back then, I wasn't allowed out of the house until he had been disposed of, but I knew of him. He's the only emiko to have been born in any of our lifetimes. The elders have seen several such children, but most of us are too young to know of any of them apart from Hiei."

"Wait… Hiei came from the ice village?" Kuwabara asked. "But he's a fire demon, that doesn't make any sense!"

Kurama and Yusuke turned to Hiei, who looked as confused as Kuwabara did.

"But if you're from the ice village, doesn't that make you a woman?" Kuwabara continued, turning to Hiei.

"Women of our clan occasionally birth male offspring," the ice maiden explained to Kuwabara. "The child is the result of the mother having relations with a man, he is always born male, and he is always a fire demon – it's a curse of our people. Hiei is one such child."

"Like… Yukina's brother?" Kuwabara asked faintly.

"Yes, I believe his sister is named Yukina," the ice maiden replied.

Kuwabara's eyes almost popped out of his head.

"I thought everybody already knew," Hiei said quietly.

"Uh, not exactly," Yusuke said awkwardly. "We never told Kuwabara or Keiko."

"Just me and Keiko?" Kuwabara echoed. "Everybody else knew that Hiei is Yukina's brother?"

"Yukina doesn't know," Kurama added.

"That's probably for the best," the ice maiden said, nodding politely at Hiei.

"Why do I get left out of everything?" Kuwabara complained.

"It's not your concern, and if nobody would tell Yukina, why should they tell you?" Hiei snapped.

"Okay, let's just keep it sane here," Yusuke said through a sigh. "What's your name?"

The ice maiden lightly touched a hand to her chest, raising her eyebrows curiously.

"Yeah, you," Yusuke said. "I think I know who everyone else around here is."

"I'm Mizore," she replied. "My daughter already informed me of your names, I suppose it was rude of me not to tell you mine, I do apologise. You have to understand, I've never really been in a social situation like this one before. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I'm not really sure what's expected of me."

"That's okay," Yusuke assured her. "But maybe you could do us a favour and ask your friends to stop being so hostile."

"That's also quite difficult," Mizore replied.

"Can you at least ask them to help the sick? You seem to like helping people where you can, don't you want to help cure the virus that's killing people around here?"

"I'm sorry Mister Yusuke, I just want to go home."

Yusuke sighed and took another sip from his flask.

"Demon world is in crisis," Kurama tried. "And, like it or not, your village is a part of demon world. Your race is the only one protected, the rest of us face extinction. Is that something you can willingly stand by and allow to happen?"

"I beg your pardon Miss Kurama, but your view of the matter is very one-sided," Mizore said softly.

"How so?" Kurama asked.

"Well, you portray your crisis as though it was some sort of cruel accident that is taking innocent lives, when in fact it's the result of your own people conducting an unholy act by waging war on spirit world."

Kurama narrowed his eyes, but, despite still looking wide-eyed and meek, Mizore did not falter under his glare.

"Your people did this to themselves," she continued. "They did something terrible, and now they are paying the price. Our clan had not been a part of your affairs for countless millennia, we were not part of the cause, but we are being forced to become the solution, even though the cost of doing so is the loss of our habitat and, in some cases, the loss of our lives."

"That's not right," Kuwabara said.

"I thought for sure we would all be killed," Mizore said. "Made to use our powers until we've used up all of our demon energy and all of our life energy, and then cast aside. And I'm sure that would have been our fate had you not rescued us. And I feel I should warn you that my people perhaps are very cynical and wary of strangers, but it's only because we know no other way. We were safe in our village, we were raised to fear men, and it was men that chased us from our homes and men who tried to sell us like slaves. We're all terrified of what lies ahead of us, and we're all incredibly grateful that you four came to our aid. The others with me are just too frightened to talk to you because they've been conditioned to fear you. I was just as afraid as they were, but when Rikka told me that Hiei – the man we fear the most – risked his life to save her from monsters who tried to eat her, I simply had to express my gratitude to you directly."

"You don't exactly look or sound that bothered," Yusuke bluntly pointed out.

"I don't know how to," she faintly replied. "Through my daughter, I've seen emotions I had forgotten even existed: happiness, excitement and friendliness. I can't express myself like she can, but I still feel the same way inside. When I saw my daughter returning to me on your swan I was so happy I wanted to cry."

"Puu's not a swan," Yusuke corrected her.

"The problem with our people is that the longer we live in our village, following the strict rules of the elders, the more close-minded and harsh we become," Mizore continued. "My companions are older than I am, two of them considerably so, and they are too set in their ways to trust you completely. You will meet many more like them on our journey, but you will also meet many more like me and Rikka, many who will learn to trust that you are helping us."

Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara glanced around each other awkwardly.

"Uh, what do mean about us meeting more of you?" Yusuke asked.

"Forgive me but I overheard you say you are taking us to Enki," Mizore replied. "From what I heard, it seems as though Enki is a very large and important place in your world, so I assumed that most of my people would be there. When we go to rescue them, our number will probably increase more than tenfold, and I wanted to assure you now that any women who appear ungrateful are really just unsure of how to express themselves."

Yusuke's flask slipped from his hand, landing in Kuwabara's lap: but Kuwabara was as stunned as Yusuke was, and so did not so much as flinch at the impact.

"Enki is a person, not a place," Hiei told Mizore. "He's the current ruler of demon world. We're taking the six of you to him, and we intend to leave you there."

"Oh…" Mizore said, her eyes lowering to the floor. "I thought you were rescuing us… It never occurred to me that you were stealing us to sell us for an even higher price than those men in Illyria tried to…"

"We're not selling you!" Yusuke said. "Just… We can't get involved, Mizore. Our friends are sick, and if your people won't help them, they could die. We don't want you to be sold and forced to use your powers until you die, but we don't want you to run away without helping our friends, either."

"I understand."

"Do you?" Kurama asked.

She nodded, looking down at Rikka, who was finishing her flask of fruit juice, blissfully unaware of exactly what was being said around her.

"We'll need our strength when we start working for your leader," she said quietly. "Please excuse us, we must get some rest while we still can."

She stood up and hoisted up her daughter into her arms, ignoring the complaints she made. Mizore marched swiftly back towards the vehicle, and as she began to climb the ladder up to the door, Hiei stood up and started after her, only stopping when Kurama lunged at him, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. He stumbled slightly, momentarily teetering on the edge of his balance, but shortly found his footing again. He turned to look at Kurama, who was surprised to find that the fire demon no longer looked angry.

"Let her go," he said. "I know it's hard, but this is the way it has to be."

Hiei worked his arm free of Kurama's hold, but did not go after Mizore.

"We should keep moving," Kurama told the others. "It's probably getting late already, it would be in everyone's best interests if we got to Enki before nightfall."

"Maybe we should just stay the night," Yusuke said.

"What?" Kuwabara echoed.

"Kurama said there's another open cave up ahead, we could park up there and get some sleep," Yusuke said. "We don't have a solid plan anyway, we're off-course for going to see Enki, we might as well sleep on it."

"I guess that's not such a bad idea," Kuwabara agreed. "There are beds in the back and spare blankets."

Kurama held up his flask, his eyes moving from it to the others around him.

"There should be enough beds," he concluded. "Judging by the size of the vehicle and the fact that there were at least five flasks on board, there ought to be at least six beds in the back compartment."

They all stood up and began to move back towards the vehicle, stopping again when Kuwabara spoke.

"So where will we sleep?"

"In the beds," Yusuke answered him. "Unless you wanna carry on sleeping on the floor?"

"But there are only six beds, and there are ten people on board," Kuwabara pointed out.

"I don't think the ice maidens will leave their hiding place," Kurama assured him.

"It can't be comfortable up there," Kuwabara said.

"Hey, they chose to hide up there," Yusuke said.

They all moved on again in silence, entering the vehicle and making their way towards the back compartment, Yusuke leading the way. They passed the ladder leading to the roof hatch, each peering up towards the upper deck, but none of them seeing anything other than shadows. Beyond the ladder the metal grating flooring ran past the door to the toilet cubicle and straight towards a closed door. Yusuke reached out a hand towards the door, which he already knew led into a small room containing three bunk-beds, readying himself to open it: but just before his fingers reached the door handle he stepped onto something slippery and his foot swung out in front of him. He tried to stagger to regain his balance, but had suddenly lost his grip on the metal grating with both feet, and he fell backwards, colliding with Kuwabara. Kurama quickly turned around and began ushering Hiei back along the walkway, but Kuwabara fell too, his back slamming against the backs of Kurama's legs, hitting them out from under him. Hiei grabbed at Kurama's arms to try to stop him from falling but his weight had already tipped his balance in the wrong direction and he fell regardless.

"Get your head out of my crotch, Urameshi!" Kuwabara cried.

"That had better be the corner of your wallet in your pocket poking me in my ear!" Yusuke snarled.

"You threw yourself at me!" Kuwabara complained.

"I slipped on the damn ice!"

Yusuke grabbed at the handrail and pulled himself up, slipping slightly before finding his balance. Kuwabara threw one arm over the top bar of the handrail, anchoring himself into a sitting position by bending his elbow over the bar to support his weight as he let his feet slide back to the opposite side of the corridor. He managed to push himself up at an awkward angle, his arms supporting most of his weight against the handrail and his feet turned outwards and pressed against the opposite side of the walkway.

"So I guess those bitches discovered the bedroom," Yusuke said.

"Well, the gentlemanly thing to do is to let them stay there," Kuwabara said.

"You're just scared they freeze you again," Yusuke said.

Kurama was still on his knees on the floor, at first surprised to see Hiei standing serenely in front of him: but again he was reminded that fire power cancelled out ice power, and Hiei had probably used his powers to melt the ice around him to stop himself from falling.

"Still, can't exactly say I'm any happier about this freezing air any better than you are, Kuwabara," Yusuke continued, wriggling his hips slightly and grabbing a hand at his crotch. "Lying in that ice made my dick shrink to the size of a raisin."

"Heh, maybe that's why the ice maidens put out cold air around men," Kuwabara suggested. "They hate men, right?"

"So they intentionally cause shrinkage just because they have penis envy?" Yusuke asked.

"Maybe it makes them feel safer," Kuwabara said. "Because, you know, they're scared."

"I guess they wouldn't appreciate my impersonation of a cocktail then…"

Yusuke and Kuwabara both laughed and Kurama gave Hiei a smile, but found him looking twitchy and horrified: which was odd, because usually he had a cutting rebuttal to deliver when Yusuke and Kuwabara started making puerile jokes about their anatomy. Assuming that Hiei was just concerned that the ice maidens could probably hear everything being said, Kurama turned his attention to the handrail and began to pull himself up. He managed to find his footing a little quicker and easier than either Yusuke or Kuwabara had, and wrongly assumed that it was because Hiei had melted the ice around them, finding the confidence to release the handrail and attempt to move away from the bedroom door: but in just one step his feet slipped out from under him and he began to fall again.

"Great," Kuwabara grumbled. "If Kurama can't even keep his balance, what hope do we have?"

Kurama stopped with his knees just short of colliding with the walkway. He looked up to see Hiei looking back down at him, his expression tense. Hiei had put out his arms to stop Kurama's fall, catching the fox demon's weight by hooking his arms under his armpits. He seemed to be straining to hold Kurama in place, and so Kurama quickly pulled himself up again – though he did stumble slightly on the way and was forced to grab at Hiei's shirt twice.

"Thank you," he said quietly once he was upright again.

"So where are we gonna sleep?" Yusuke asked.

The others all looked around each other awkwardly.

"There's more blankets in the supply closet," Kuwabara said.

"But we're all sleeping up front, right?" Yusuke asked.

"It is the warmest place right now," Kurama said.

Hiei turned and started back towards the driver's cabin, stopping when he reached the open storage compartment. He began helping himself to blankets, only stopping when he noticed the others still sliding about behind him. Kurama, being the furthest from the door, was the first to escape the iced section of the walkway, joining Hiei by the cupboard before looking back as Hiei was. Kuwabara and Yusuke were doing little to help their situation, pushing each other and snapping out insults every time one of them slid into the other accidentally.

Once Yusuke and Kuwabara had eventually escaped the ice, Kurama took the remaining blankets from the cupboard and all four moved to the front of the vehicle where Kurama handed out the blankets he had. Yusuke took two and climbed up onto the control console, folding one up into a pillow and pulling the other over himself as a blanket.

"Are you sure you want to sleep there?" Kurama asked him.

"The dashboard is covered with velour or something," Yusuke replied. "It's cushioned, and a lot more comfortable than lying on the floor."

Kuwabara collected the blanket he had been sleeping with earlier from the back corner of the cabin and took it to the driver's chair, sitting down and reclining it back as far as it would go and covering himself over. Kurama turned to Hiei and attempted a smile.

"You might find it more comfortable sleeping on one of the shelves," he suggested.

"I'm fine," Hiei replied, pushing the two blankets he had into Kurama's arms.

"I don't need three blankets, Hiei," Kurama assured him.

Hiei moved over to the corner Kuwabara had been sleeping in and sat down, hugging his arms around his knees.

"You need to keep warm," Kurama insisted, moving over to Hiei's side.

Hiei glared up at him but said nothing, and so Kurama sat down beside him, wrapping a blanket around his shoulders. Hiei tensed at the contact, his eyes widening, but still he said nothing and he made no move to push off the blanket or Kurama's arm from his shoulders.

"I know this is very difficult for you, but since Mizore seems to want to help us, perhaps you should let her heal you," he suggested.

"I don't anything from that woman," Hiei quietly replied.

"This really isn't the best time to be so stubborn, you know."

Kurama moved his hand from Hiei's shoulder to his head, ruffling his hair. Hiei grunted and turned his head away slightly and Kurama allowed himself smile.

"That little girl was right about you, Hiei," he said. "Your hair is very coarse. Then again, it maybe just feels that way to me because someone burnt the skin off the palms of my hands."

Hiei turned abruptly, his eyes suddenly enormous and fixed onto Kurama's upturned palms.

"I haven't had the chance to make up a healing balm," Kurama said. "There might be medical supplies on board. Or maybe I could ask one of our guests to help me – like you ought to."

"I'm going to sleep now," Hiei said, rolling onto one hip, away from Kurama.

Kurama took Hiei's gesture to mean that he was unwilling to talk any longer, and so he shuffled along slightly and began trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** The next morning starts awkwardly and only gets worse when the gang arrive in Gandara and encounter another dubious auction taking place, which again divides them on how to deal with it. Meanwhile, in spirit world, Koenma confronts Botan about her wayward behaviour, with disastrous consequences. **Chapter 14 – Tight Nook**

 **NB:** The title of the next chapter is in no way a double entendre, I swear.


	14. Tight Nook

**A/N:** I love Dally, so she gets an honourable mention in this chapter…

I'm not writing recaps any more, because I'm pretty sure nobody reads them/finds them useful – considering I update frequently anyway.

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Tight Nook**

The next morning, Kurama awoke to the sounds of grunting and snorting and feeble attempts at whispering above him. He opened his eyes abruptly, catching a brief glimpse of Yusuke and Kuwabara as they tried to dash away and pretend that they had not just been leaning over him while he slept. Yusuke had moved over to the inactive navigation device and was pretending that he could see something interesting on the darkened, featureless screen and Kuwabara was making an elaborate display of folding the blankets he and Yusuke had used the night before. Kurama started to sit up but thumped back down before his head had cleared the floor by more than a foot as he suddenly became aware of a weight draped over one side of his body. He turned his head slightly, flinching as stiffened black hairs tickled his nose.

Apparently Yusuke and Kuwabara had somehow managed to manoeuvre Hiei's still sleeping body over his, to make it look as they were cuddling.

Under ordinary circumstances, Kurama might have found the joke as funny as Yusuke and Kuwabara did; but something about Hiei's behaviour lately made the situation suddenly seem horribly awkward and tense, and so instead of playing along to see how Hiei would react when he awoke, Kurama began trying to carefully slide away from him. Yusuke temporarily lost his self-control and snorted a little louder than before, the noise apparently enough to wake Hiei, who began to stir at Kurama's side. Kurama froze, watching Hiei from the corner of his eye, bracing himself for the moment the fire demon realised his predicament and exploded in a fit of rage.

At first, Hiei merely clutched at Kurama's clothes and arched his back, his eyes opening slowly, hazed over with sleep and unfocussed. As he started to regain his senses, he moved his head slightly, his eyes studying his surroundings as though he had temporarily forgotten where he was. The movement of his head forced more of his hair into Kurama's face, and he had to suppress the urge to sneeze: but once the ticklish sensation had passed, Kurama started to become aware of something slightly amiss. He pushed his nose a little further into Hiei's hair and sniffed to confirm what his nose seemed to be trying to tell him – but the movement was enough to make Hiei fully aware of where he was and exactly what position he was in, and he promptly tore himself from Kurama's side, staggering away from him awkwardly and glaring back at him like a wary wild animal would when cornered by a hunter.

Yusuke and Kuwabara burst out laughing, and, to Kurama's surprise, Hiei merely cast each of them a brief, displeased scowl before dashing off towards the back of the vehicle.

"That was disappointing," Yusuke moaned, his smile fading. "He didn't even threaten to kill us."

"Maybe he liked it," Kuwabara muttered quietly, his voice so low it was almost as though he had not actually wanted anyone else to hear his words.

"Nah!" Yusuke said. "He's always hated when we've done stuff like that before."

"You were very lucky he didn't wake up while you were moving him," Kurama said.

"Huh?" Yusuke echoed.

Kurama stood up and stretched out a few strains he had earned from sleeping in a tense position on a hard floor.

"Hiei's instincts are to kill anything that touches him in his sleep," he explained. "You were lucky he didn't wake up while you were positioning him at my side like that and slit your throats."

Yusuke and Kuwabara turned to exchange looks of confusion, and Kurama paused, no longer able to so much as blink as a worrying though dawned on him.

"We didn't move him," Yusuke said, turning to Kurama.

"That's why it was so funny," Kuwabara said.

"I'm sure it was an accident, but it's pretty funny that Hiei likes to cuddle something in his sleep," Yusuke added.

"You didn't…?" Kurama asked, pointing down at the patch of floor where he had been lying.

Yusuke and Kuwabara both solemnly shook their heads. Kurama smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Very funny," he said. "I almost believed you both for a moment there."

"Kurama, we're not joking," Kuwabara said.

"Yeah, you guys were like that when we woke up," Yusuke added.

"We just pulled the blanket off you to see how bad it was," Kuwabara said.

"And then it got funnier, because once the blanket was gone, we could see that he had his leg over you too."

Kurama's smile started to fade.

"You're still joking…" he said slowly, glancing back and forth between Yusuke and Kuwabara, hoping one of them would dissolve into laughter again at any moment.

"Do we look like we're joking?" Yusuke responded.

"No, but sometimes that's part of the joke," Kurama said.

"Not this time, fox boy," Yusuke said. "You and Hiei slept together last night and the bedroom is still frozen shut."

"I haven't seen any of those ladies use the bathroom yet," Kuwabara said.

"I didn't know that was your style…" Yusuke muttered.

"The ice maidens are experts at restraint, self-control and repression," Kurama said. "If they think they need to, they will stay in there for weeks."

"This is back to what you were saying before about them being the opposite of Hiei, right?" Yusuke said. "Because Hiei has no restraint or self-control. I mean, he obviously couldn't keep his hands off you last night. Though since he's never told you that he likes you, I guess he is repressed."

Kurama forced a smile, though he was finding the situation increasingly serious. He tried to focus on the knowledge that they were only a few hours away from Gandara, where they should finally be able to deposit the ice maidens and return to their own lives – and hopefully Hiei would then get cured of his lingering illness and return to his usual, grumpy, aloof and aggressive self.

"Well, we should continue our journey," he said, moving towards the driver's chair. "It would be unwise to dally any longer."

"Who's Dally?" Kuwabara asked.

Kurama sighed quietly and sat down, placing one hand on the steering wheel and reaching for the key – still in the ignition – with his other hand. But, just before his fingers closed around the key, Kurama paused, the realisation that something had changed occurring to him. He slowly turned his hand over, facing his palm upwards to confirm what he had caught glimpses of, before sitting back slightly and lifting his other hand from the steering wheel to turn it over too.

The burns Hiei had inflicted on him the day before had healed completely.

He opened and closed his fists experimentally, but saw no trace of the wounds. He touched one hand to his face and confirmed that his bruising and cut lip had also mysteriously disappeared. A chilling image of one of the ice maidens using her powers on him while he had been sleeping played in his mind, but he shortly dismissed it for the lunacy that it so clearly was and started the engine, determining to get out of the situation he was in as quickly as possible.

* * *

"Come in!"

Botan watched her door expectantly, growing slightly confused when there was a short pause before the person who had knocked began to enter.

"Oh, Lord Koenma Sir!" she said as he slowly slid open her door. "What are you doing up here?"

Her suspicion began to grow when she saw that he was in his adult form – something he rarely bothered to do around spirit world – and he looked slightly angry and slightly disapproving. He opened the door slowly and stepped into her room slowly. An ogre closed the door behind him, again reminding Botan that she was still being treated like a prisoner in her own room, and Koenma began to slowly look about himself, as though expecting something to jump out at him.

"Can I return to my duties now?" she asked.

"Is that what you want?" Koenma asked, his eyes still surveying her room.

"Well, yes," she replied.

"Are you very eager to get back to your duties, Botan?"

Botan faltered slightly, one eye twitching as she tried to suppress her true emotions and fought to keep the guilt she felt from showing in her face.

"I just want to get back to helping people, Sir," she said carefully.

"Is that why you did this?" he asked.

Koenma had been holding one hand behind his back, but on his last word he held it out towards Botan, brandishing a fistful of bent and misshapen spoons.

"I didn't do that," she lied, trying her best to look innocent.

"Oh no?" he asked, one eyebrow twisting upwards sceptically.

"Why would I vandalise dining utensils?"

Koenma moved over to the side wall of Botan's bedroom and whipped her robe from its wall-mounted hanger, revealing a small collection of cracks and scuff-marks on the wall.

"Oh my!" she gasped. "This room has woodworm!"

Koenma gave her a flat look and she slowly came to accept that he was not going to believe her blatant lie.

"Botan, have you been trying to create a hole in your bedroom wall?" he asked.

"Maybe a little bit," she admitted.

"With a spoon?" he asked, holding up the damaged spoons again.

"Perhaps," she replied.

"You're trying to escape from here?"

"Maybe."

"Why?"

"Because I… I have to do something! I can't sit in all day, I'm going crazy! And you told me that I can cure that virus in demon world, and I know that Hiei is sick, and you're making me stay here when I should be out there helping him and I know that Yukina has gone somewhere mysterious and she is also a healer so maybe now she's in trouble and maybe I need to go an adventure and save her!"

Koenma sighed, stepping away from the wall again.

"I understand your concern, but Hiei seemed fit enough the last time I saw him, despite his illness," he said. "And if Yukina were in any real danger, Kuwabara would have alerted us by now. I know it's difficult for you to be kept in like this, but, as you know, we can't leave the souls of the dead wandering the earth for too long, so you'll be out and back to work before you know it. And in the mean time… Please don't try to dig your way through walls with spoons, it makes you look insane."

Botan pouted petulantly, crossing her arms over her chest and glowering at Koenma.

"You're not going to convince me otherwise by glaring at me," he told her.

"What about all those souls building up in living world?" she asked. "Maybe you should just let me out to take care of them."

"It's too dangerous to let you back into living world right now, I won't take that risk," he said.

Botan leaned to one side, looking past her boss to the door behind him.

"You know there are security guards monitoring the corridors outside," Koenma warned her. "Don't even think about trying to get past them."

"What would you do if I did?" she asked, standing up.

"Botan, this is serious," he insisted. "I need you to stay here. I'm doing this for your own good."

"But I'm not any good locked up in here!"

"You're not locked up."

"I'm not exactly free, either!"

Botan narrowed her eyes at Koenma, who merely returned her gesture. She suddenly took a step to one side, but he mirrored her action, keeping himself between her and the door.

"You're not very coordinated in that body, I could easily out-run you," she pointed out.

"But you can't out-run the guards," he reminded her. "And you need to sit down, calm down and stop breaking cutlery and walls. Damaging spirit world property is a serious offence."

"How serious?"

"What?"

"How serious an offence is to break spoons?"

"Very serious. I'm just overlooking it because I know you didn't mean it."

"…How serious an offence would it be if I had broken those spoons on your face?"

"…Botan that's not even funny."

Botan's eyes fell to the spoons in Koenma's hand, the sly look on her face making him wonder if she had perhaps spent too long in the company of demons.

"Don't even joke about it Botan!" he warned her. "I don't care how upset you are, if you even try something that ridiculous, I'll…"

"You'll what?" she asked, lifting her eyes to his.

"I'll have you spanked!"

Botan smiled sweetly, but Koenma already knew it was not a good sign. She stamped onto his toes with one foot, catching the spoons as he opened his fist on instinct in reaction to the pain. Just as he had gotten over the initial shock of her standing on his toes she smacked him over the head with a handful of spoons, shoved him to one side and ran at the door. As she tore it open he yelled out for the guards to catch her, which they diligently did, and, despite her attempt to escape having been thwarted very quickly, Botan looked unreasonably pleased with herself.

"No," Koenma said as the guards started to drag her back towards her room. "Take her down to the main hall, she's to be punished."

Botan still looked far too happy for Koenma's liking, but he reasoned that she would soon come to her senses when she realised that he was not bluffing. Absent-mindedly rubbing at the stinging pain at one side of his head, he led the way away from her room, the guards pulling her along behind him. As they exited the ferry girls' living quarters he heard Botan made a small noise that sounded like nervousness, and he turned to see if she was finally realising the gravity of the situation: but instead found her grinning like a mad woman.

"This is very serious, Botan!" he snapped irritably.

She looked back over her shoulder, watching one of the guards close and lock the door they had just come through. Once the door was secured in place she suddenly dropped downwards, leaving two very confused ogres each holding a human-shaped but hollow kimono. A few seconds later Botan – dressed in what looked like a ninja warrior's outfit, shot over their heads on her oar.

"Botan!" Koenma yelled.

"I'm sorry Sir!" she called back over her shoulder. "This is just something I have to do!"

"Get after her!" Koenma ordered the guards.

He stood on the spot, watching in horror as countless ogres stumbled about clumsily, some trying to climb on the shoulders of others in their attempts to catch Botan. She ducked and weaved through them all with almost laughable ease, slipping through the large doors an instant before they slid shut. Beyond those doors was the long corridor that led to the exit, and, judging by how long it was taking the ogres to open the doors again, Koenma could already tell that nobody would be able to catch Botan.

Having her loose around spirit world when there was a demon invasion was bad, but letting her get to living world and potentially be abducted by a sick demon looking for a cure was far worse, and so Koenma resorted to his last option and ran back to his office, intent on activating the emergency barrier system that stopped anything passing between spirit world and living world. Botan was a very proficient flyer, but he was still confident that he could beat her to it.

Inside his office he launched himself over his desk, flipping up the panel to access to activation button. He smacked one hand onto the button and with the other he grabbed the remote for his television and began flicking through the various security cameras around the temple until he found the one overlooking the access road. Still sprawled awkwardly over his desk, he watched as Botan rose up into the sky, a faint glimmer chasing after her as the barrier began closing her in. She had almost made her escape, and by the way her ponytail was flicking about from side to side, it was clear that she was nervously watching what was happening around her. She would not go much further, he was sure – only a fool would continue in the face of such a powerful repellent.

An instant later, Botan shot sharply upwards, disappearing into the crackling static energy of the barrier.

* * *

"I'm just saying, we're onboard a damn army tank, meant for soldiers fighting in wars. How the hell is it possible that you found perfume here?"

Hiei narrowed his eyes at Yusuke but said nothing.

"You stink!" Yusuke snapped.

"At least I made the effort to wash," Hiei replied.

"Hey, we're on the road, we're all guys, nobody cares what we smell like! That's what being a man is all about!"

"Or maybe it's just your excuse for poor hygiene."

"You're the only one who had to go "bathe" and spray perfume everywhere!"

"I don't like smelling of rotten sweat."

"Why? Are you trying to impress your frigid cousins back there?"

Yusuke thrust a hand out towards the still frozen over door at the end of the walkway. Hiei glanced at it disinterestedly before shrugging his shoulders.

"Are we there yet?" he asked.

Yusuke growled at him, shoved him to one side and stomped past him, heading towards the toilet cubicle.

"It stinks before I even open the door!" he complained.

He reached out a hand to open the door, his feet stepping onto the clear ice around it, and he promptly slipped, his back clattering against the handrail behind him. He grabbed at the door to steady himself, shouted a few colourful insults at the frozen door and then slid his way awkwardly into the restroom. He pushed the door hard to close it, inadvertently liberating it from its hinges with a loud clatter. He cursed at the door and then cursed again when the entire vehicle lurched to a halt and the freed door fell against him. Leaving Yusuke to find his own way out of the little trap he had made for himself, Hiei ran to the front of the vehicle, stopping by the console.

"Why have we stopped?" he asked Kurama.

Kurama glanced up at him before pulling on the parking brake.

"There seems to be something happening up ahead," he said.

"Like what?" Hiei asked, peering out the front windscreen at the large stadium up ahead of them.

"Wait here with Kuwabara, Yusuke and I will continue on foot," Kurama said, turning off the engine.

"But it's still a long way yet," Kuwabara pointed out. "Why don't you just drive us up there?"

"This is a stolen vehicle and the primary television network of this realm has a news-team based in that stadium. It's too dangerous to drive any closer."

"Take me with you."

Kurama turned to Hiei, expecting to find a demanding look on his face after he had phrased his last words as a statement as opposed to a question, but instead he found him looking hopeful and a little bit anxious.

"We won't be long, but in case something goes wrong, I need you here in the driving seat ready to make a quick getaway," Kurama told him.

"Oh…"

Hiei looked over at the driver's chair, his expression somewhat conflicted. Kurama did not wait to find out why, instead going to help Yusuke out of the toilet cubicle.

"Why did they have to freeze the whole damn door and everything else around it?" Yusuke shouted as he finally managed to duck out from under the broken door.

"Let's not worry about that now," Kurama said, leading the way back to the cabin.

He let Yusuke leave ahead of him, pausing long enough to look back at Kuwabara and Hiei, finding Kuwabara looking vaguely concerned and Hiei still looking uncharacteristically unsure. There was something strangely pitiable about the look on Hiei's face, but Kurama shook the sentiment from his mind and hurried after Yusuke.

"We're doing this quick so we can get back to spirit world, right?" Yusuke asked as Kurama caught up to him.

"Yes," Kurama confirmed.

"Good. I owe that Fabio guy an ass-kicking."

"Fumio."

"Right, whatever."

They began to run, and, without anything slowing them down, they soon reached the stadium; but they were forced to stop several hundred yards short of their goal as they were met with an unruly queue by the entrance. Kurama began trying to ask some of those pushing to get ahead why they were queuing, whilst Yusuke adopted a more direct approach and pushed his way to the front of the queue and into the stadium proper.

The stands were almost as crowded as they had been during the demon world tournament, only those gathered were far less organised – which was quite a spectacle, considering how disorganised some of the spectators had been during the tournament. But it was not the size or haphazard placing of the crowds that was cause for concern to Yusuke and Kurama, rather it was what they were all watching take place on the stage once used to draw lots for placings in the demon world tournament: more doctors in bio hazard suits were trying to organise an auction, and again they had cages of ice maidens lined up for sale.

Yusuke and Kurama exchanged worried looks before watching as the cages were wheeled around to afford the audience a better view – a camera was filming the stage and projecting the result onto the giant monitor facing the bulk of the audience, and it clearly showed six cages containing eight ice maidens, ranging from an elderly woman who looked barely able to stand to an infant cradled in her mother's arms.

"D-do we walk away from this?" Yusuke asked. "I know these people are sick and need help, but that old lady looks like she's ready to be sent to the glue factory and one of those women has a baby. Can we let them sell a baby?"

"We can't let them sell anyone," Kurama replied. "We have to get to Enki, he would be furious if he knew this sort of immoral vending was taking place right under his nose."

"So… We're just gonna turn around and go to Enki's place?" Yusuke said slowly. "We're walking away and leaving the crying baby and the dying old hag?"

"Look around you Yusuke," Kurama said through a sigh. "We were lucky to escape Illyria without major injury or worse, we can't tackle this many people. But…"

"But?"

"But we can't let them sell those women either. This crowd is becoming frenzied. Hiei and I met a troll who told us the common belief is that the best way to cure the virus is to eat those women. They will be literally torn apart by the desperate, we can't let that happen."

"Right, but how do we get them out?"

"We wait for the auction to end and then when the winners take their prizes, we move in and try to take them back. Hopefully the women will be sold to rich individuals, just like those winning the auctions in Illyria were, and once they leave this place to travel on their own or in a small group, we will have a much better chance of overpowering them."

"That was probably a great plan. Too bad we'll never know for sure how great it might have been."

Kurama turned questioning eyes to Yusuke, who simply pointed at the sky in reply. Kurama did not need to look up however to know what Yusuke was referring to, as he saw a bird-shaped shadow passing over the stands behind Yusuke. The crowds of spectators gradually grew quieter and stiller as they all turned their attention upwards to Puu, who circled around the stage once before diving down at the auctioneers, who fled in fear, allowing Kuwabara and Hiei to leap from Puu's back and land on the stage alone. Kuwabara immediately set about cutting open the cages, stopping halfway to fight off the hoard of demons that began swarming the stage. Hiei literally pushed the freed ice maidens onto Puu's back, leaping on behind them and taking off, leaving Kuwabara behind.

"Do you remember Botan telling us about those spirit world good behaviour classes?" Yusuke asked as he and Kurama watched Puu fly over their heads.

"They sounded asinine and banal," Kurama replied.

"Yeah, back then they did, but now maybe going to the class about good teamwork doesn't seem like such a bad idea," Yusuke said.

Kurama waited for Yusuke to continue, watching as the look of bemusement on his face slowly changed into an impatient scowl.

"Because nobody on this damn team is working together any more!" he finished.

"We need to help Kuwabara," Kurama pointed out.

They turned to move towards the stage, but before they could start their journey they were almost knocked off their feet by a tide of angry demons charging past them towards the exit, apparently intent on following Puu. Half of the audience had decided to chase Puu and the other half had stormed the stage and hoisted up the four remaining cages. Kuwabara was caught in the middle of the tussle, but, just as had happened in Illyria, nobody was interested in fighting him, they just wanted him out of their way, and so he was perhaps not so at risk as it had seemed he might be at first when Hiei had left him.

Kurama and Yusuke fought their way through the throngs of demons scrambling away from the stage before enjoying a temporary reprieve as they passed through the gap between one mob and the other and then finally, to reach Kuwabara, they had to battle through the demons clambering at the stage in pursuit of the remaining ice maidens.

"What the hell happened?" Yusuke asked Kuwabara as he finally made it onto the stage. "You were supposed to be staying back at the tank with Hiei and those bitches!"

"It wasn't my idea!" Kuwabara shouted back, pushing aside a smaller demon and stepping closer to Yusuke.

"You jumped off Puu and cut open those cages!" Yusuke pointed out.

"We saw the crowds and we wanted to know what was happening," Kuwabara replied. "So we went outside and got Puu to take us up into the sky so we could see inside the stadium. I wanted to turn back, but Hiei went crazy and made Puu take us down here!"

"You didn't hesitate to follow Hiei's plan," Kurama reminded him.

"One of those women had a baby!" he said.

Yusuke looked over at the four remaining ice maidens still in cages: the two who had been contained with their children had been freed, but the elderly woman was still amongst those caged, and she looked as though she had passed out.

"Why didn't you take the old woman too?" he asked, turning back to Kuwabara. "I thought you would have saved the old lady along with the kids."

"Puu can't carry that many people," Kuwabara replied.

"You intend to take all of eight of them with us?" Kurama asked.

"Of course!" Kuwabara replied.

"Hey, we've barely got enough room for the six we already have on board!" Yusuke pointed out. "We can't fit another eight!"

"We can't leave them here!" Kuwabara argued.

Yusuke glanced back and forth between Kuwabara and Kurama, waiting for one of them to give him a solid reason to choose their side of the argument; but both remained silent. Without a verbal response, Yusuke eventually decided to go with a visual one: Kurama looked quite neutral, whereas Kuwabara had look of unshakeable determination blazing in his eyes.

"Okay, we take the rest of them with us, but then we go straight to Enki, and we make sure this whole thing gets sorted out by the proper authorities!" he concluded.

"I don't trust Hiei not to use his dragon against the mob who followed after him," Kurama said. "Which would be disastrous, because not only would he kill countless innocents driven mad by sickness but he would also pass out afterwards and leave us all exposed."

"Right, you stay here and help Kuwabara get those other hags," Yusuke said. "I'll go make sure Hiei behaves."

"Why are you going?" Kuwabara asked.

"Because I'm the fastest out of the three of us," Yusuke flatly replied.

"Only because you're a demon now," Kuwabara grumbled.

Yusuke groaned but held back from retaliating, instead focusing his attention on pushing through the crowds to check on Hiei. He again faced an initial struggle to push against the bodies trying to move in the opposite direction that he was before enjoying a brief reprieve that lasted until he fully exited the stadium, at which point he saw the crowds evenly dispersed between himself and the military tank in the distance. Puu had reached his goal and landed on the roof of the tank once more, and Hiei was climbing down to the ground to face the oncoming demons who had been pursuing him. Not wishing to be accidentally caught by the Dragon of the Darkness Flame – because Yusuke already knew that Hiei was reckless enough to just launch the attack without first checking that it was safe to do so – he broke into a sprint, jinxing past the stumbling sick at the back of the crowd and then shouldering his way through the more able.

But, even moving at his top speed, it took Yusuke the best part of a minute to reach Hiei; and before he got that close, he saw something quite unusual. At the front of the crowd approaching their vehicle was a demon with some sort of long-range attack, who, once he thought he was close enough to do so, shot out a series of bright flashes of energy towards Hiei. Yusuke expected Hiei to use his famous speed to dodge the attacks or else to block with his arms if he thought they were too weak to do him any lasting harm: but instead Hiei stood perfectly still, his arms hanging loosely at his sides and the flashes of energy vanished just before they reached him. In the instant they had disappeared, Yusuke had noticed a very brief flash of something blue in the air around them, but otherwise there was no real indication of what Hiei had done to make the attacks disappear.

"Hey," he said as he skidded to a halt at Hiei's side.

"Guard the ice maidens, I'm taking Puu and going back for the others," Hiei greeted him.

"You don't wanna stay here and fight while I take Puu back for the others?" Yusuke asked.

He was a little surprised that Hiei was volunteering to remove himself from combat, especially as he seemed so determined to fight off anyone looking to exploit his people; and it was unlike Hiei to avoid any chance to shed blood in general.

"I think I can trust you," Hiei replied.

Yusuke laughed.

"And here I thought you were acting weird," he said, slapping Hiei on the shoulder and causing him to stumble slightly. "But you're still your same foul-mouthed, barrel-chested, hard-fighting, pile of ugly, ugly–"

"Please stop," Hiei cut him off.

"And modest too," Yusuke added.

Hiei gave him a strange look before waving a hand to Puu, who hopped down to the ground and lay down to allow him to climb onto his back.

"Will you be alright?" Hiei asked Yusuke as he settled down behind Puu's shoulders. "There are quite a lot of them."

"And you're still a cheeky son of a bitch, now get out of here!" Yusuke replied.

Hiei nodded and urged Puu on, the spirit beast spreading his wings and taking flight, leaving Yusuke alone to face the angry demons looking to recover the ice maidens from the tank behind him. After knocking down the nearest demons – which required little effort, as most of them were weakened by their illness and from the effort they had expended running away from the stadium – Yusuke leapt up to the roof of the tank to assess his options for chasing off the remaining pockets of demons approaching.

"I'm so glad you changed your mind, Mister Yusuke!"

Yusuke cried out involuntarily as a cold hand touched his arm, flinching away from the contact and turning to see Mizore standing by the open roof hatch, looking, he supposed, about as close to happy as an ice maiden possibly could – which was about as cheerful as Botan looked on a really bad day.

"What are you doing out here?" he snapped at her. "Get your ass back inside!"

"I just wanted to thank you for deciding to help us after all," she replied, seemingly unfazed by his ire.

"Well don't get too used to the idea, this was just an accident," Yusuke bluntly told her. "Now get back inside and shut the damn door!"

"There's not a lot of room onboard now with our numbers increased–"

"Get back inside you crazy bitch!"

Mizore hopped back through the roof-hatch, but she made no attempt to close the door, instead peering out of the open space at Yusuke. He looked down long enough to acknowledge that the ice maidens Puu had just delivered were all huddled in the minimal roof space, and the others they had rescued the day before were milling around by the base of the ladder. A quick head-count reminded him that there were now ten ice maidens – including four children – in the tank and four more would soon be joining them, which would take their total to… A number that would surely make the journey to Enki's headquarters more than a little claustrophobic.

Meanwhile, back in the stadium, Kuwabara had managed to free three of the four remaining ice maidens, but the cage containing the elderly woman was beyond his reach, and the crowds were making an earnest attempt to hold him back from reaching them. Kurama was equally as detained, standing in front of the three freed ice maidens and trying to hold back their would-be assailants with his Rose Whip. When Hiei and Puu finally returned, Hiei leapt down to urge the ice maidens onto Puu's back.

"Where's the elder?" he asked Kurama.

"We can't get to her," Kurama replied. "Get those three out of here, then we need to follow. Yusuke can't hold guard of our vehicle on his own for long."

Hiei looked displeased but dismissed Puu with the three ice maidens securely on his back, pushing back any demons who tried to grab the spirit beast's legs as he took off. Once Puu was out of arm's reach, the desperate crowds turned their attention to the last remaining ice maiden, who was still in a cage being held aloft and tugged back and forth between several groups of demons. No longer under attack themselves, Kurama and Hiei hurried over to help Kuwabara.

"They're gonna kill that old lady!" Kuwabara said as he elbowed back the last of the demons grabbing at him.

"I think she's unconscious, but that's to be expected," Kurama replied. "She seemed to be close to passing out when Yusuke and I first got here."

"Hey, you!"

Hiei spun around, his lip curling as he found himself face-to-face with a rather strange-looking goblin.

"Would you say the old ice maiden is worth more or less than a young one?" he asked. "Because she's probably more experienced and she might be more powerful, but she probably doesn't have as much energy, right?"

"Why is your life worth more than mine?" Hiei growled back.

The goblin scrunched up his already creased face.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked. "I just wanted to know if the old ice maidens are more expensive than the young ones!"

Hiei took a step towards the goblin but stopped there as Kurama caught his arm.

"We don't have time to argue pointlessly," he said when Hiei looked up at him.

"I don't think this is a pointless argument," Hiei retaliated. "This creature is putting prices on the heads of my people, he's grading them by age as though they are nothing more than tuna steaks!"

"I understand your frustration–"

"Do you?"

"Yes, but it makes more sense to focus that anger and energy elsewhere: like on recovering that elderly lady before the crowds here literally tear her apart."

Hiei turned around again and stretched up onto his tiptoes, peering over and through the crowds around them, anger giving way to worry when he noticed the one remaining cage. Kurama released his hold of Hiei's arm, assuming that he had come to his senses and was ready to work out a way for the three of them to reach the last ice maiden: but instead Hiei reminded Kurama once again that planning ahead was not his forte by charging off on his own, ducking under elbows and dodging around legs of much taller demons, most of whom failed to even notice his presence. Kurama nodded at Kuwabara and together they struggled on in pursuit of Hiei, but Hiei reached his destination long before they could reach him, and once there he simply leapt at the cage, reaching his hands out towards it as though he somehow thought he could prise open the bars using pure brute strength.

Kuwabara continued onwards but Kurama stopped abruptly when he saw a flash of blue light as Hiei's hands touched the bars of the cage, an invisible force throwing Hiei backwards. He flew through the air for a short distance before arcing down towards the ground, his fall broken by a larger demon who happened to be in his flight path. Kuwabara had reached the cage by the time Hiei had been shoved aside by the demon he had collided with, and so Kurama moved to help Hiei to his feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"They've done something to that cage," Hiei replied, partially allowing Kurama to pull him to his feet.

"It's quite strange, those cages are surrounded by a forcefield designed to repel the powers of the demon contained within them," Kurama said slowly. "So I'm not really sure why you were affected just now: after all, your fire powers are at the opposite extreme from the ice powers those cages have been rigged to repel."

Hiei paled slightly and Kurama instinctively tightened his hold of his friend, as he was sure the little fire demon was about to pass out.

"Perhaps it has been set up to repel all elemental attacks," Kurama suggested.

"Well, obviously…" Hiei muttered, eying Kurama over as though he was an idiot not to have said so sooner.

"Well at least those cages aren't immune to attacks from a spirit sword," Kurama said, nodding at Kuwabara as he successfully cut open the cage.

Hiei seemed to snap back to attention then and he hurried over to Kuwabara's side, followed closely by Kurama. Kuwabara caught the ice maiden as she fell limply from her prison and Hiei and Kurama held back the sick as Kuwabara started towards the exit: but the crowds around them were simply too packed and too desperate, and they were shortly unable to move, focusing all their attention on hitting back hands and claws that caught hold of the ice maiden's kimono. But with every passing second, their situation was looking increasingly bleak as they were gradually squashed closer together and grabbing hands began tearing at clothing and delivering wounding punches and scratches.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Botan attempts to find a brilliant disguise to stay undercover in living world, but when she fails to impress Shizuru she realises she needs to rethink her initial plan. In demon world the boys are forced to flee to even more remote and dangerous parts of demon world to keep their passengers – and themselves – safe. Hiei is suffering after the struggle at the stadium, and when Mizore misunderstands what sort of girl Kurama really is, things go from bad to worse for all concerned – but especially for Hiei. **Chapter 15 – Trying Nuisance**


	15. Trying Nuisance

**Chapter 15: Trying Nuisance**

Botan drew in a deep breath, feeling quite pleased with herself for having escaped spirit world a mere instant before she should have been sealed into her own realm: but before she could even breathe out again she was made suddenly aware that she had not made a clean escape. Her oar wobbled in the air and she began to lose altitude, the long sleeves of her kimono and her ponytail rising straight upwards as she fell through the air in a wavy pattern, making her feel like a petal from a sakura tree in summer time. A glance over her shoulder confirmed what she had already suspected: the barrier that had been closing over in spirit world had sealed just a fraction of a second earlier than she had thought, chopping off most of the blade of her oar. And without the blade to steer and keep her balance, she was left wobbling about and sinking through the air in a way that was quickly making her feel nauseous.

She quickly lost her sense of direction, and instead of trying to fly to her intended location, she focused all of her attention and energy on controlling her descent in the hope of avoiding a crash-landing. Unfortunately, she only managed to slow her descent, and crashed regardless, but fortunately, she crashed into a high, spindly bush, the branches of which snapped under her weight, absorbing some of the impact, and eventually she stopped just short of the ground, her hair and clothing thoroughly entangled in the broken remains of the bush. She was left with a few bloodied scratches on various parts of her body, but she was otherwise unharmed.

She let out a sigh and began the tedious task of untangling herself. A quick glance around her surroundings told her was not too far from her intended destination – she had been aiming for Genkai's temple, but had landed in the forest just short of the temple steps – and so her escape had been relatively successful after all. Koenma would undoubtedly be furious, and she did not relish the thought of the confrontation she would inevitably have with him when she eventually returned to spirit world, but she at least felt confident that everyone else in spirit world was too busy to come after her, and so she would be free from capture by her own people: though she would have to be extra vigilant of any demons in living world who may come after her for her healing abilities.

It was all an exciting adventure, Botan told herself. She would just have to find a good disguise and live incognito until she had figured out a way to do something more constructive to fix the problems in spirit world – and, as even Kurama had admitted, disguise was Botan's speciality.

* * *

Kurama, Kuwabara and Hiei were running after Puu – or rather, they were trying to, the mass of bodies also running after Puu around them making it difficult for them to move at any great speed. The elderly ice maiden was slouched over Puu's back and he was aiming to deliver her back to their transport, but it looked as though he would not make his target as more and more demons scaled the sides of the vehicle in anticipation of his landing. Yusuke was doing his best to knock them down to the ground again, but he was only knocking them out, which meant that some of them were rising again once they had recovered, and there were simply too many of them for him to hold back on his own.

When he reached the tank Puu paused, hovering on point above Yusuke's head, his eyes darting about warily as desperate demons lunged at his talons in an attempt to drag him down out of the air. He needed to land to deposit the unconscious ice demon on his back, but it was too risky, and so he was forced to hold his place, his giant wings creating a backdraft that helped keep some of his attackers at bay. Yusuke, who was staggering about a little under the gusts of air Puu's wings were creating around him, looked up long enough to assure himself that Puu and his passenger were safe before running to the front of the vehicle and sliding down the windscreen and over the bonnet to the ground. He pushed past the few first rows of demons to meet up with Kurama, who was slightly ahead of Kuwabara and Hiei.

"You can drive that thing better than anyone, you need to get it out of here," he said. "I'll stay here with Kuwabara and Hiei, we'll fight them off until you and Puu have made it out of here."

"How will you know where to find me?" Kurama asked.

"Send Puu back for us once you're safe," Yusuke replied. "He'll know where we are."

"I can't leave you all like this."

"It's not us they're after."

"Let Hiei drive, and I will stay behind. He's still too weak to fight effectively."

"Hiei drives like an old woman with cataracts and a limp, and you can make magic healing potions with your plants for any wounded we might now have on board. And since they think you're a woman, they trust you better than any of us. You have to go."

"Do what he says, Kurama!" Hiei insisted.

"Yeah, we can handle things here!" Kuwabara agreed.

Kurama admired Kuwabara's blind enthusiasm and Yusuke's determination, but he was not so sure that leaving Hiei behind was a wise thing to do. However the crowd around them was thickening and getting more frenzied, and he did not have time to dither. He nodded one last time to Yusuke before turning around and pushing his way around the side of the vehicle. He had to pull down two demons from the ladder up to the door and kick another in the face as he began to climb and found himself being closely followed, but he managed to open the door and leap inside without incident, only meeting with more conflict when he closed the door and tried to lock it in place. Almost as soon as he inserted the key into the keyhole it fell out again as the door was yanked open, and Kurama was forced to grab at the door with both hands and pull it back into place. He was stronger than the demons on the other side of the door despite their number, their ill health making them weaker still, and so he managed to gradually pull the door back into place, almost beheading a particularly ambitious gremlin who tried to squeeze through the partially open door.

With the door finally shut again Kurama quickly locked it into place and hurried over to the driver's seat, a vague sense of apprehension plaguing him as he felt the entire vehicle groaning along one side, and, peering out one side window, he saw that the majority of the attacking crowd had decided to work together – something that demons formerly unknown to each other rarely did – and they were trying to push the vehicle over. Realising that, if the others all joined in, they were quite likely to succeed in their goal, Kurama quickly started the engine, leaned forwards one last time to check that Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei were still in front of the vehicle and then put the vehicle in reverse, taking off as fast as he could. He knew he was potentially killing and definitely injuring some of the sick and needy, but they would never willingly move out of his way, and so he kept going, pulling on the steering wheel to arc the vehicle around until it was perpendicular to the stadium, then shifting gears and racing forwards.

Going back the way they had come was not an option, he knew. The others might not have noticed, but, as someone who was only too familiar with the type of demons who lived and commuted through the underground, Kurama knew that he could not return there again in the vehicle he was in, as it had been identified and by now there were probably traps lying in wait for its return. The underground was used by the same merchants and thieves who frequented Illyria, and those same merchants and thieves had an uncanny knack of spreading news faster than Koto's global news broadcasts. Continuing forwards had also not been a viable option, as that meant driving directly towards and around the stadium where the auction had been taking place, and turning right led out across a wide, flat, open plain where the tank would have been readily visible for miles around, making that a less than ideal option. And so Kurama was accelerating as fast as he could make a heavy armoured military tank go towards the forest of okunen ju that had been used during the demon world tournament.

It was not the most ideal escape plan, but nothing – other than vultures and other carrion species – dwelled permanently in that area, and so Kurama at least knew that he stood a good chance of finding a hiding place to stow the vehicle while Puu returned for the others: and after that, he had little idea of what to do next. It seemed that nobody was really taking any responsibility or offering to direct their actions, and that was leading to everything they were doing becoming knee-jerk, reactionary responses made in the heat of the moment when Hiei lost his temper or Kuwabara went on a moral crusade to protect the women he had mistaken as defenceless. This, Kurama supposed, was all because Yusuke had yet to definitively make up his mind about whether the ice maidens should be freed or not.

As he moved deeper into the trees, beyond the well-maintained, spaced-out platforms used for competitions and into more densely-packed, over-grown and rarely touched trees, Kurama had to check the side mirrors more frequently to ensure Puu was keeping up with him. The massive treetops were slowly blocking out all daylight, making the illuminated dials around him look all the brighter, but also making it increasingly difficult to keep sight of Puu and to see if there were still any demons chasing after him. Eventually Kurama reached a point where he was forced to stop, finding himself surrounded by the enormous trunks of fully-grown okunen ju and the gaps between those trunks littered with tall, thin and insipid saplings that had grown too tall too quickly in their attempt to reach daylight high above them, their trunks slightly transparent under the glare of the tank's headlights, making them appear almost ethereal against the blackness of the dense forest beyond them.

Kurama switched off the engine as he heard and felt Puu landing on the roof. He paused long enough to concentrate on the faint energy signals around him and confirm that they belonged only to Puu, the ice maidens and a small variety of wildlife typically found in an okunen ju forest. He then made his way to the middle of the vehicle and started to climb the ladder towards the roof hatch, pausing halfway as he saw Mizore already opening the roof hatch. He was a little irritated that she had not bothered to check that it was safe before acting, but decided against saying anything, instead continuing up the ladder and joining her as she finished loosening the hinges on the hatch. She gasped as she noticed him, snatching her hands from the hatch, but as her eyes met his she visibly relaxed.

"Oh Miss Kurama, I was worried you were one of the men," she said.

Kurama again contained his instinctive response and tried to keep them both focused on the task at hand.

"Let me open that, it's heavy," he said, stepping up one more rung.

She nodded and ducked back into the roof space, allowing him to push open the door, she screamed a little too dramatically for an emotionless ice maiden when the open hatchway revealed the limp form of the elderly ice maiden, suspended in the air by Puu, who had threaded his beak through her obi. Kurama climbed out onto the roof to ease her out of Puu's hold and manoeuvre her over his shoulder. He dismissed Puu and waited to watch his departure, feeling pleased to see that the spirit beast somehow had the presence of mind to not fly straight back in the direction they had come from, but rather to wind his way through the trees in a series of misleading directions in case anyone spotted his movements. Feeling a little more reassured by Puu's sensibility, Kurama climbed back down and closed and locked the roof hatch. Mizore made a strange noise as he passed her but he ignored her, continuing down the ladder and through to the driver's cabin, where he lay the elderly ice maiden down onto the blankets still folded by one side of the cabin from the night before.

Kurama had seen ice maidens as old as the one before him, but they were rare. To have lived as long as she had, she was clearly a revered elder of the tribe, and her presence onboard the tank was probably only going to escalate the already tense atmosphere.

"Oh dear…"

Kurama lifted his head to see Mizore standing by the back of the cabin, peering over at his patient warily.

"I had hoped it was not actually her," she said as she caught Kurama watching her. "Ice maidens look identical to their mothers, and so many of us look very alike, and I hoped that when the others were describing her, they were talking about her mother and not… Her…"

Kurama looked down at the unconscious, frail, woeful aged face below him.

"Is this a problem?" he asked when he failed to see why such a weak and pitiful creature should be cause for concern.

"Well, we don't usually let her out you see…" Mizore said carefully. "Her mother locked her in her house about three centuries ago, and she's never been allowed out until now."

Kurama frowned.

"You yourself can't be three hundred years old," he said. "How do you know who she is if she has been locked away since before your birth?"

"No, I have a young daughter, I'm only in my second century, but everyone in our village knows who she is," Mizore replied. "She sometimes would open the upstairs window and shout out to us as we walked by… She's not of a stable mentality, Miss."

"Are you saying she's insane?" Kurama asked flatly.

Mizore nodded solemnly.

"Dangerously insane?" he asked.

"It's hard to say," she replied. "I've never seen her out of that house to know what she might be capable of, but she certainly does say some frightful things. I was never allowed near her house as a child, and now that I am mother myself, I wouldn't dream of letting my own daughter go near her."

Kurama slowly stood up and took a step back from the old ice maiden.

"I was going to attempt to arouse her," he said.

"You-you were?" Mizore said quietly. "M-Miss Kurama, I had no idea you enjoyed the intimate company of another woman, especially not as you travel with so many men. Though I don't understand why a woman as young and – if you don't mind me saying so – as pretty as you are would chose to bed with one so much older than herself. Are you only attracted to much older woman? It seems a pity, if you are…"

Kurama twitched involuntarily, pushing back the many twisted thoughts his demon side was starting to formulate in the back of his mind.

"Awaken," he corrected himself. "I was going to attempt to awaken her. Would that be unwise if she is, as you say, unstable? Would it be best to leave her unconscious for now?"

"Oh…" Mizore said, trying to look thoughtful but failing rather miserably. "Yes, it would be better if you let her sleep, she is quite a handful when she's awake."

"Alright then."

Kurama moved one of the blankets over the old ice maiden and then stepped back, nodding at Mizore: though as he met her eyes he saw something he had hoped not to.

"Some of our people think it sinful to indulge in any kind of intimacy," she said carefully. "But some of us find that the sort of physical love two women can enjoy together is quite a beautiful thing."

"I assume from the way you referred to the latter option in the first person plural, you are one of ice maidens who isn't opposed to it," Kurama quietly replied.

"That's right, yes," she said.

To Kurama's eyes, Mizore looked alarmingly confident for a supposedly naïve ice maiden who seemed to be trying to talk him into being her lover – and for one long and sickening moment he could not tear his eyes from her, an array of sinful thoughts fleeting through his mind, each one making him more and more sure that he was reverting back to his full demon form and on the brink of fulfilling that one immoral desire he had harboured for so long.

"Have you ever been with a woman before, Miss Kurama?" Mizore asked.

"I won't have this conversation with you," Kurama warned her.

"I've never been with a woman outside of my own clan before," she continued, as though he had not even spoken. "I've often wondered what it might be like to feel a warm body pressed up against my own cold skin as I–"

"Stop."

"Have you never even considered being with another woman, Miss Kurama?"

Kurama wanted to tell her that she was horribly, horribly mistaken, but he was disabled by a small voice in his head that asked how far he thought he might get with her if he just played along.

"Some of my people think it's shameful, but the union of two women in the throes of ecstasy is a truly beautiful sight to behold."

Kurama snapped back to attention.

"Behold?" he echoed. "You mean you…?"

"I like to watch just as much as I like to participate," she casually replied. "Though I couldn't watch you fondle an unconscious old lady who's out of her mind."

Kurama turned his head sharply to the window: what was taking Puu so long to bring back Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei?

* * *

"I guess he's still really sick, huh?" Kuwabara asked.

"He looks awful!" Yusuke agreed.

"Let's draw a moustache on him!"

"With what?"

"Oh, right, good point…"

Kuwabara and Yusuke both sat back, rubbing their chins as they eyed Hiei over curiously. The little fire demon was still conscious – but only barely – and he looked worse than either of them had ever seen him look. He was deathly pale, his skin was gleaming under layers of sweat that had dampened his hair, he was breathless and he was infrequently letting out small moans and wriggling his shoulders as though he had an itch in the middle of his back that he could not quite reach.

"Maybe we should take his shirt off and let him cool down," Kuwabara suggested.

"I'm not taking his shirt off!" Yusuke snorted, folding his arms in refusal.

"I'm not touching him, he's already been acting way too weird around me lately!" Kuwabara retorted, tucking his hands under his armpits and glowering across Puu's back at Yusuke.

"Damnit Kuwabara, you're such an asshole sometimes!" Yusuke complained. "You should just go get laid and get over your homophobia!"

"I'm not homophobic," Kuwabara quietly replied.

"So then take off his shirt!"

"No way!"

Yusuke growled, unfolding his arms and shaking a fist at his friend in frustration.

"Okay, whatever," he said, holding up both hands. "I'm secure enough in my manhood that this doesn't mean anything to me, and I can do it!"

Yusuke grabbed two handfuls of Hiei's shirt and tugged it out of his pants.

"Ew, Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelped.

"Shut the hell up!" Yusuke grumbled. "It's not like we've never seen him with no shirt on before!"

"He's gonna kill you if you take it off," Kuwabara warned.

"Nah, don't be ridiculous! He'll be glad I took it off. He's a fire demon, right? So he overheats easily and he prefers the cold!"

"Isn't it the other way around? Doesn't he feel the cold more keenly because he's born of fire and accustomed to high temperatures?"

Yusuke froze, his hands hanging in the air, holding Hiei's shirt just above his belly.

"If I want a God damn science lesson, I'll go back to school!" he yelled, his voice rising with every word so that he virtually screamed the last part.

"I'm absolving myself of all responsibility," Kuwabara calmly replied, stuffing his hands more fully under his armpits.

"Idiot."

Yusuke yanked up Hiei's shirt, lifting it fully up to his neck, exposing his entire upper body from his waist to his shoulders, before stopping short, his eyes slowly growing wide at what he saw underneath.

"What the hell…?" he muttered.

"Huh?" Kuwabara grunted, his hands slowly sliding out from their hiding place. "Is that…?"

"Well I guess this explains a lot, right?" Yusuke said.

Kuwabara gave him an incredulous look but Yusuke merely nodded sagely.

"It's obvious now, right?" he pressed.

"What's obvious?" Kuwabara asked. "This isn't making any sense!"

"Well it's clear to see why they made me detective instead of you…"

"That was a low blow… Get to the point."

"This is why Hiei's been sweating like a nun at a cucumber stall."

"…What does that even…?"

"He's been wearing this extra, super-tight vest, and it's making him too hot!"

Yusuke pinched at the white vest Hiei was inexplicably wearing beneath his shirt, a small shiver passing over him as he realised that it was made of lycra.

"That's gross!" Kuwabara said, turning his head away. "He's sweating so much I can see right through it!"

"Oh yeah!" Yusuke laughed, leaning forwards to study Hiei's panting form beneath him. "Hey look, he's got a wound… Wonder when that happened…"

Yusuke titled his head curiously, his eyes studying what was clearly a substantial dressing over Hiei's heart. Leaning a little closer, he could just about make out faint traces of blood on the dressing, visible through his sweat-soaked white vest. He pressed one hand to Hiei's chest to flatten his vest over his heart to better make out how badly the wound underneath was bleeding through its dressing, but as he put pressure on Hiei's chest Hiei flinched against his hand and then rapidly shuffled back out from under him, tugging his shirt from Yusuke's hands and pulling it back down.

"Hiei!" Yusuke cried as the fire demon inadvertently slipped over Puu's neck in his bid to escape being touched.

Yusuke and Kuwabara both short forwards, peering over either side of the base of Puu's neck, seeing Hiei hanging upside-down, one of his legs clutched in one of Puu's feet.

"Nice catch, Puu!" Yusuke commended his companion, who cheerfully called out his own name in reply.

"This whole mission just keeps getting weirder and weirder…" Kuwabara moaned.

"Hey cheer up, sad sack!" Yusuke said. "Look, there's the tank already! And besides, it can't get any weirder than it already has, right?"

Puu lowered himself slowly to the ground, lying down Hiei before releasing his leg and flapping his wings once to move himself to a safe position to land without accidentally stepping on Hiei. Yusuke and Kuwabara slid from his back and Yusuke patted him on the head before sending him back to his preferred position on the roof of their vehicle. Hiei got to his feet, angrily stuffing his shirt into his pants and glowering at Yusuke. Together they moved over to the ladder up to the door, Yusuke entering ahead of Kuwabara and Hiei following at the back. Yusuke strolled casually into the cabin for a good three long strides before halting abruptly as his brain registered just what his eyes were seeing: the old ice maiden was lying on the floor, covered haphazardly in space blankets, Mizore was sitting on the dashboard, her hands on Kurama's shoulders and Kurama was standing immediately in front of Mizore, his hands on her waist.

"Not interrupting anything, are we?" Yusuke asked, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows at Kurama.

"What are you doing?" Hiei cried, pushing his way past Kuwabara and then Yusuke to stand alongside Kurama.

"This isn't what it looks like, I assure you," Kurama replied.

"I know exactly what this is!" Hiei snapped. "Why are you all so stupid! Get your hands off of her, can't you see what she's doing to you?"

"Hiei, I didn't do a thing to this woman, I swear," Kurama said.

"I didn't say you, I said her!" Hiei shouted. "She's the instigator! Get out of the way!"

He put his hands on Kurama's chest and pushed him roughly away from Mizore, who curled her lip and recoiled at the sight of Hiei standing directly in front of her. Hiei, however, did not hesitate, grabbing her face in his hands and leaning forwards to lick at the patch of skin just below her bottom lip.

"Damn, Hiei!" Yusuke said in a low voice. "At least take the girl out to dinner first!"

Hiei paused, licking at his lips experimentally before leaning forwards and licking at Mizore again. She seemed to finally come to her senses upon his second assault and squealed, pushing him back, and he allowed her to do so, staggering back and licking at his lips with a frown.

"So Hiei, what flavour is she?" Yusuke asked, elbowing a stunned Kuwabara in the ribs.

"I knew it!" Hiei growled, pointing an accusing finger at Mizore. "You conspire to kill us all and seize this vehicle for your own purposes!"

"I don't know what you mean, Mister Hiei!" she wailed.

"This is a poison!" Hiei snapped, turning his finger towards his mouth. "It's a popular trick they use," he added, looking back over his shoulder at Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama, who all looked as though they were suffering from varying degrees of shock. "It has a sweet taste, and they smear a small amount half an inch below their lower lip and then they kiss their victims passionately, being sure to dose the victim with just enough to knock them out. Or… Kill them…?"

Hiei staggered back a step, narrowing his eyes slightly at Mizore.

"I didn't intend to kill anyone," she said faintly.

"You…" he growled.

"Please, you don't understand!" she cried, turning to Kurama, as though expecting him to sympathise with her. "We thought you were taking us to your leader to sell us for the highest price you could get! We had to do what we could to protect ourselves!"

Hiei staggered two steps to one side, swaying about slightly and touching a hand to his head.

"Hiei, are you okay?" Yusuke asked.

Hiei looked down at the old ice maiden lying on the floor, stumbling a little awkwardly towards her and pulling back the blanket covering her.

"Oh my, it's grandma!" he said.

"What?" Kuwabara muttered.

Hiei held up one finger and drew in a breath as though to explain, but before he could voice his reply his eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled to the floor.

"That better not have been a lethal dose," Kurama warned Mizore before hurrying over to Hiei's side.

"This is you fault you know, Urameshi," Kuwabara said matter-of-factly.

"How the hell is that my fault?" Yusuke asked.

"You said this wouldn't get any weirder," Kuwabara grumbled. "And everybody knows that whenever somebody says "this can't get any weirder" it always does!"

* * *

Shizuru's hands opened, a dishtowel falling from one and a wine glass falling from the other – and she did not even blink when the glass hit the floor and shattered at her feet. She had seen her fair share of unusual sights working in the bar – especially because of the neighbourhood it was located in – but the one she was now looking at was, without a doubt, the most absurd yet.

"I'll have a strong, manly drink please Miss."

Shizuru moved her mouth but her voice failed to put any volume into the words her lips were forming. The suited figure in front of her sat down on a bar stool and watched her expectantly, but it still took several seconds longer for Shizuru to finally managed to talk.

"What in God's name is wrong with you?" she said.

"I don't know what you're talking about, sweet-cheeks."

Shizuru's face dropped and she finally began to regain some control of her senses.

"Aside from the fact that you're wearing aviators indoors, a bowling hat, an obviously fake black moustache – despite the fact that you have a mountain of blue hair messily piled up under that hat – can you think of any other reason why you look absurd, Botan?"

Botan slowly pulled her enormous dark glasses down the length of her nose, pink eyes leering up at Shizuru from the gap she created.

"How did you know it was me?" she asked.

"I'll give you three really good reasons why your disguise failed, sweetie," Shizuru replied. "Number one, cleavage, number two, cleavage and number three put a damn shirt on, you look like a confused hooker!"

Botan gasped, whipping off her dark glasses to subject Shizuru to her outraged expression.

"You can't just put on a suit, dark glasses, a hat and a fake moustache and expect people to think that you're a man!" Shizuru cried.

"I am rather tall," Botan pointed out. "And I specifically bought an unflattering cut of jacket to disguise my curvaceous hips."

"But you're not wearing a shirt, and I can see your boobs from thirty feet away…"

"Of course I'm not wearing a shirt! Have you ever worn a man's shirt before? The necks are huge and baggy and incredibly unattractive. I thought it looked a lot more stylish like this: the suit gives the empowerment of a masculine image, but with no shirt underneath, it alludes to my inner feminism."

Shizuru groaned and hung her head.

"I think I look good," Botan insisted.

"You look confused," Shizuru replied.

"I am confused!" Botan replied. "I thought this disguise was flawless, but you saw right through it! How? Did you use your psychic powers? Because that would be cheating!"

"No I meant you look like you're confused."

"I am confused!"

"No, I – oh, look, never mind, the point is, if you seriously think that what you're wearing is a decent disguise, then you need help. Did you honestly look in a mirror and think "yes, that's the look I want to go for"?"

"I thought the moustache made me look like a dashing young gentleman."

"The moustache makes you look like a gender-confused housewife who's brain's been addled by her excessive boredom. Lose the moustache, lose the hat, and I'll get you a drink."

Botan sighed dejectedly and began peeling off her fake moustache, complaining under her breath the whole time as the glue held fast, making the removal process more painful than it ought to have been.

"Keiko told me you went back to spirit world," Shizuru said as she placed a bottle down on the bar in front of Botan. "She said you were in danger. If you're back here, does that mean the danger is past? And if it is, where the hell is my baby brother: he's missing an exam today…"

Botan paused, the moustache half hanging off her face, her eyes staring at the glass bottle in front of her.

"I'm not serving you alcohol," Shizuru told her, sensing her next question by the increasingly curious look on her face. "Getting drunk encourages people to enact bad ideas, and, coming in here dressed like that, it doesn't look like you need any encouragement today."

"But milk?" Botan asked, lifting her eyes to Shizuru.

"It's also caffeine free and calming," Shizuru replied. "Which, in your case, are both very necessary things…"

Botan removed her hat, placing it on the bar and allowing her hair to fall loose about her shoulders.

"I need to look inconspicuous," she explained. "I'm in hiding."

"Well the outfit you chose makes you look conspicuous, so try again," Shizuru bluntly replied. "What are you hiding from?"

"I don't know."

Shizuru thumped a fist onto the bar surface, making Botan yelp and jolt back in shock.

"Tell me, Botan!" she warned. "My brother is still in demon world because of whatever is going on, and hearing rumours about deadly viruses isn't helping my happiness any. You don't want to make me unhappy, do you Botan?"

"No, Sir!" Botan wailed.

"Then tell me what you're running from."

"I don't know! Lord Koenma wouldn't tell me! All I know is that there is a virus in demon world, and the cure is healing magic, and so it's not safe for ferry girls like me to go anywhere a demon might find me, because the sick are desperate and violent, and they might torture and kill me to cure themselves!"

"Botan, that sounds serious. Maybe you should have stayed in spirit world."

"I couldn't!"

"Why not?"

"I got bored!"

"Botan!"

Botan grinned nervously.

"If you're not safe here, you should go back home until you are safe here!" Shizuru flatly told her, before reaching one hand across the bar and ripping off Botan's fake moustache.

Botan yelped, her hands flying to her top lip and her eyes wide in horror.

"That hurt!" she moaned. "And besides, I have honourable reasons for leaving spirit world too!"

"Such as?" Shizuru asked, flicking the moustache into a nearby trashcan.

"I wanted to do something more useful that hide in my room all day, and I need to know where Yukina is," Botan replied.

Shizuru started, her cynicism vanishing to give way to genuine shock, a look Botan rarely saw her friend express.

"You don't know where Yukina is?" she asked. "But I thought she was staying with Keiko's parents?"

"No, she's not!" Botan replied. "I tried looking all over for her, and I can't find her! Hiei said she had gone somewhere secret, but he wouldn't tell me where she was or when she would be back, and now I'm getting worried. What if some sick demons find her and kidnap her for her powers?"

"That sounds bad, but Hiei always watches over her, right? So I suppose if he thinks she's safe, then she must be safe. Still, it's odd that she's gone off on her own…"

"Yes I know, but Keiko and I discovered that Yukina's been hiding a few secrets from us."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well, it seems she – um…"

Botan stopped herself and began chewing at her lip nervously: she was not entirely sure that Shizuru would be pleased to learn that Yukina had eyes for someone other than Kuwabara.

"You can stay at my place tonight," Shizuru offered. "I finish at eleven, we can talk then."

Botan looked at her wrist even though she was not wearing a watch.

"But it's four already," she said.

"Eleven o'clock at night," Shizuru patiently pointed out.

"Ah, right, well…"

"Here, wait for me at my place, and try not to get spirited away before I finish tonight."

Shizuru slid her keys across the bar to Botan.

"And for God's sake Botan, change your clothes before I get home!"

"Okay…"

Botan hung her head and pouted but Shizuru showed no signs of breaking and offering her any sympathy, and so she bid her friend goodbye and left the bar again.

* * *

"Maybe you should just leave now."

"Please, Miss Kurama, I–"

"I'm not a woman."

Mizore paused, her face twitching curiously. She glanced at Kuwabara and Yusuke as though expecting them to deny Kurama's last words.

"If you intend to poison us after we went out of our way and risked our lives to save you, then you had best leave right now," Kurama continued. "Because if Hiei does not soon awaken without any assistance, I will take you and all of your kind on board this vehicle to the nearest hospital and ensure that you give help to the sick by any means necessary."

"Isn't that what you intended to do with us anyway?" Mizore asked bitterly, wiping a sleeve at her chin to clear away any residue of the poison remaining.

"Your fate – the fate of all the ice maidens on this vehicle – is in our hands," Kurama reminded her. "And I'm about to put it back into yours: if you give Hiei the antidote and you cure him of his sickness, we will take you back to your village and help you hide yourselves once more; but if you refuse to help him, we will take you to the nearest hospital, and there is a good chance some, if not all of you, will end up back in cages. The choice is yours, Mizore."

Mizore looked down at Hiei's pale and limp form sprawled across Kurama's lap as though considering her options very carefully.

"If he knew it was poison, why did he lick up so much of it?" Kuwabara asked Yusuke.

"Because he's Hiei, and he thinks he's immune to things like poison, pain and death," Yusuke replied.

"Good point," Kuwabara said.

"Hey lady, is that stuff actually deadly?" Yusuke asked Mizore.

"It can be," she quietly replied. "It depends on the amount consumed and the strength and abilities of the demon in question."

Yusuke glanced at Kuwabara, who was starting to look as alarmed as Yusuke was suddenly feeling.

"My patience is wearing thing, Mizore," Kurama pressed. "And your claim that you never intended to kill anyone will be invalid if Hiei passes, so you had best act quickly if you want to regain any trust from our side."

"I don't have an antidote prepared," she replied, sounding far too calm for Yusuke's liking.

"Well prepare one then, you idiot!" he snapped.

"It takes time," she said. "And I don't see why I should waste my last moments of semi-freedom mixing up an antidote for an enemy of my people, just so that he can surrender our lives to a terrible fate when he awakens."

"How the hell can you still be bribing us?" Yusuke demanded. "Do you know how to drive this thing? Do you know where we are or how to run away and hide? I don't think so! You're the one who needs to do what we say!"

"How do I know you won't just sell us off like slaves?"

Yusuke grabbed Mizore by the shoulders and started to order her to save Hiei, but his speech cut off halfway with a cry of surprise and pain as she froze his hands. He hurriedly snatched his hands back, shaking them off and baring his teeth at her.

"I don't care that you're a girl, a mother, or fragile or whatever," he warned her. "I'll kick your ass anyway!"

"No!" Kurama shouted.

Yusuke halted, turning to Kurama in surprise: it was not often that he heard Kurama raise his voice.

"We won't fight over this," he said. "She helps us right now or we agree to leave her and the rest of her people on board at the nearest hospital."

"Fine by me," Yusuke said, rubbing his hands together as he tried to warm them up again.

"But… What about the kids?" Kuwabara asked.

"We leave them at the hospital too," Kurama replied.

"I think you would have done that anyway, regardless of anything I did for your friend," Mizore told him.

"We trusted you, the least you could have done was to trust us," he returned.

"We don't trust many outside of our own clan," she replied. "Least of all a woman who shares the company of so many men."

"He's not a woman, you crazy bitch!" Yusuke snapped at her.

"We don't have time to argue this," Kurama said, gathering Hiei into his arms. "I have to start work on an antidote, and I need time to figure out what the poison is before I can even start on the cure."

Yusuke turned to Mizore, but found her expressionless and her eyes dull. She looked into his eyes for long enough for him to realise that she had no intention of helping before turning and walking from the cabin.

"We leave them at the next hospital," Kurama said.

He stood up, picking up Hiei, who lay as lifelessly as ever in his arms.

"This is ridiculous, he's lost so much weight…" he added under his breath.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Kurama struggles to formulate an antidote for Hiei, and his mind starts to wander to some questionable thoughts – but when the old ice maiden wakes up, she soon brings him back to his senses. Botan is acting strangely (more strangely than usual, that is!) and when the gang finally arrive at Enki's home, they receive a nasty, nasty shock. **Chapter 16 – Testy Nag**


	16. Testy Nag

**A/N:** "Do you mind telling me why my daughter now thinks she's a retarded fish-frog?" (South Park)

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Testy Nag**

Kurama sighed, wiping sweat from his brow with one hand and marking an X onto the list he had written in front of him with the other. By luck there had been a small residue of the poison on Hiei's lips, which had allowed Kurama to take a sample of it for testing, but so far he had failed to find an antidote from any of the common healing herbs he was carrying with him. He had laid Hiei on the console, wrapped in a space blanket with another blanket folded under his head as a pillow and a third blanket laid loosely over him – which looked excessive on a body as small as Hiei's, but infrequent touches of his cheek reminded Kurama that his friend was cold enough to be dead already. At Hiei's feet Kurama had planted a balancing plant in a bucket he had found in the supplies closet. The plant had two flowering heads for experimentation: one head was dead, lying in a shrivelled brown heap by the roots of the plant, and the other was patiently awaiting Kurama's next offering. When he found the right solution, the first head would come back to life: but so far it had not so much as flinched, meaning he had yet to find a single helpful ingredient.

And he was out of new single ingredients to try.

He touched one hand to Hiei's cheek again as he scanned down the list he had hurriedly written down on the inside cover of the vehicle manual, silently wondering if any of the herbs he had tried might have a completely different effect if used in combination: though the dead head on the balancing plant was a fair indication that he was grasping at straws. He lifted his head again, looking first out the window at Yusuke and Kuwabara, who had lit a fire outside and were cooking something they had caught in the forest, and then at Hiei, who, despite feeling deathly cold looked strangely serene.

Kurama lightly dragged his fingers down one side of Hiei's face. He had never really touched Hiei before for longer than an instant, either in a sparring session or in jest. It was strange, because he had never imagined Hiei's skin to feel so smooth or so soft. He supposed it was just that Hiei was still quite young, but after the rough start he had endured in his life it was still quite surprising that his skin should be so flawless. He noticed then that Hiei's lips still looked slightly wet, and so he stood up from his position sat in the driver's chair and pulled a fresh cleansing wipe from the first aid box he had opened out behind the balancing plant. He had not thought to wipe Hiei's mouth clear of any lasting traces of the poison, and he realised then how silly that was: curing Hiei would be a pointless exercise if he woke up, licked his lips and promptly passed out again.

Kurama began carefully wiping over and around Hiei's lips with one hand, moving his other hand underneath Hiei's jaw, gently holding his head steady as he completed his task. As he worked, Kurama could not help but notice how delicate Hiei's features were. He supposed that he was only noticing these things so obviously now because this was the first time since their first meeting – and after passing out after his fight against Bui during the Dark Tournament – that Hiei had actually stayed still long enough for Kurama to actually get a good look at him. Perhaps it was because he had lost weight with his sickness – most noticeably he had lost muscle-mass – but Hiei looked almost feminine when seen up close. Had he been any less masculine in his manners and attitude, the look might have had a more profound effect on his life.

Kurama discarded the wipe, feeling satisfied that he had finally removed any lasting traces of the poison from Hiei's lips. There was a chance there was still some residue inside Hiei's mouth, but it was unlikely to be enough on its own to make him anything more than a little bit nauseous. Kurama's eyes lingered on Hiei's lips for a long time, his mind quickly weighing up his options for what to do next. Even if there was no trace of the poison left behind inside Hiei's mouth, the taste of it might still be present, and, Kurama thought, maybe if he could taste the poison, he could figure out what it had been made from and work out the correct antidote. He moved his eyes to the wipe, but it looked like it was drying out already, and it was slightly medicated and so the taste would be tainted. He moved his eyes to Hiei's lips again, his mind refusing to really concentrate on the conclusion he had already come to and knew that he would have to enact.

Kurama leaned forwards slightly, his hair spilling over one shoulder and casting a shadow over Hiei's face. He tightened his hold of Hiei's jaw to hold his head in place and leaned further, tensing himself in anticipation of what he knew he had to do.

"Filthy whore!"

Kurama hit the floor before he felt the throb of pain across the middle of his back. He looked back over his shoulder to see a very old ice maiden standing behind him brandishing a broom. He rolled over and quickly scrambled to his feet, ducking out of her range as she tried to hit him again. He briefly wondered where she had come from, since Mizore and the others had sealed themselves into the room at the back of the vehicle again, but a glance at the dishevelled blankets by one corner of the cabin reminded him that the one elderly ice maiden they had rescued had been unconscious in the cabin since her arrival: and apparently she had just woken up angry.

"How many times do I have to tell you girls to stop that disgusting behaviour?" she yelled, swinging the broom handle at Kurama's ribs.

He sucked in his stomach to avoid the blow before catching the handle in both hands. He tried to pull it from her but she froze the length of it and he was forced to quickly let go before she froze his hands too.

"I think you're mistaken," he warned her. "You are not in your own village any more, and neither I nor my friend are answerable to your orders."

She paused beside Hiei, eying him over with an air of disgust.

"I remember this one," she concluded, pointing a gnarled finger at his swaddled form. "I never forget a face. I voted to let this one stay, but the others didn't agree."

Kurama could not keep the surprise from his face, and the ice maiden noticed it, lowering the broom as she seemed to calm slightly.

"Didn't think I'd ever see this one again," she added. "This one was always trouble. Thinks too much. My people don't like thinkers."

"Yes, I'd noticed…" Kurama muttered.

"It's hereditary, you know," the ice maiden said, throwing aside the broom. "Wanting sex. They get it from their mothers. This one comes from a long line of randy troublemakers. Must be something in the breast-milk."

Kurama tried to answer her, but both words and his voice failed him.

"This one's family was the worst of all in our village," the ice maiden continued. "This family liked to seek carnal pleasures with others outside of our clan. Plenty of our girls do filthy things with each other, but only a few ever venture out and start fornicating with other species."

She raked her suspicious, beady eyes over Kurama.

"You seem like the type this one's family prefer," she said. "Tall, fine hair, perfect skin and tits like rocks."

Kurama's jaw dropped and his mind went blank.

"I don't remember this one being so lazy," she continued, turning to Hiei. "Wake up!" she yelled into his face.

"He's been poisoned!" Kurama finally managed to say.

"What?" she snapped, turning to glare at Kurama as though he had just said something absurd and insulting.

"One of your people tried to poison me with something she smeared on her lip," Kurama explained. "Only before she kissed me–"

"Mizore?" the ice maiden interrupted him.

"Yes, I believe that is her name," Kurama replied.

"Her family have provided us with more fox-tail scarves than I can keep count of."

"F-fox-tail scarves?"

"Fox demons like to hunt our kind, Mizore's great-grandmother discovered that she could poison them that way if they managed to catch her, and she passed the secret on from generation to generation. They always took the tails from their victims. Makes nice bunting in the holiday season."

Kurama swallowed hard past the lump forming in his throat.

"But the poison that girl uses won't have any effect on this one," the ice maiden continued, pointing at Hiei again. "It's harmless to us, that's why we use it in such an otherwise dangerous way. This one isn't poisoned, this one is just lazy."

"I beg to differ," Kurama replied. "Clearly he is very sick, and now also poisoned and weakened."

"And clearly you're just a pretty face, girl!"

Kurama started to correct the ice maiden but before he could finish she had slapped Hiei across the face, the sound alone making Kurama jolt and his voice halt. She swung back her hand to hit him again but Hiei groaned and began to stir, and so she lowered her hand again.

"See?" she said, turning to Kurama. "Just lazy."

Kurama hurried over to Hiei's side, torn between shock and relief to see Hiei's eyes opening and slowly focusing. He was so tightly wound up in his blankets that he could do little more than writhe around, but he seemed to want to move, which was a good sign. He blinked several times until his red eyes finally regained their usual sparkle and he first fixed them onto the old ice maiden, a strange, almost amused look filling his face.

"Grandma!" he said.

"I'm not your grandmother, you cheeky little rat!" she snapped back.

Hiei began struggling harder to free himself, barely managing to free his arms, and so Kurama stepped forwards, pulling off the top blanket. Hiei halted immediately, his eyes moving to Kurama and slowly widening.

"I'm glad to see you awake," Kurama greeted him. "I thought you'd intentionally poisoned yourself just to prove a point to me."

"Oh, um, no, I was just…" Hiei began, scratching at his head and looking about awkwardly.

"Not enough sleep, not enough food and too much excitement," the old ice maiden answered for him.

"You collapsed from exhaustion?" Kurama asked Hiei.

Hiei's face twitched in what was clearly a sign of his embarrassment, and since he did not deny Kurama's assumption, it seemed that it had been correct.

"You should stay apart," the ice maiden said, waving a wrinkled hand between Kurama and Hiei. "You titillate this one too much."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Hiei snapped at her. "She doesn't know what she's talking about!" he said to Kurama. "She's the village idiot!"

"Well, I suppose every village does have one…" Kurama muttered.

He moved his eyes to the old ice maiden, realising then that Mizore had at least been honest when she had described the antics of the old lady – though, he reasoned, she could just as easily have been saying anything she thought necessary to distract Kurama from awakening a creature so likely to foil her plan to poison him.

"We should eat," he said, turning his attention back to Hiei. "You especially. You need to rebuild your strength. And… There is a small matter we need to discuss."

"You shouldn't believe anything she says," Hiei replied, looking suddenly guilty. "She thinks she created squirrels by cross-breeding a fish with a frog."

"That… Doesn't make any sense…" Kurama said slowly.

"Exactly!" Hiei whispered.

"Your friends are all hiding in the sleeping quarters behind the frozen door along that way," Kurama said to the ice maiden, pointing towards the walkway as he spoke.

"You want me out the way so you can continue your filthy mating rituals," she replied.

"There's nothing filthy about mating rituals!" Hiei snapped at her.

The old ice maiden turned to look directly at him and he began to falter, his face slowly turning red.

"That's your problem," she said. "Too much thinking, and none of it about anything clean."

"You're wrong!" Hiei argued back.

"Your mother spent long hours thinking about dirty things too. And your grandmother. And your great-grandmother. They liked to be women though. You're just confused."

"You're confused!"

The ice maiden held up a finger as though to reply, but instead slowly sank to the ground, landing amongst the blankets she had been resting on earlier.

"I think Mizore was right," Kurama said, his hand still poised over where he had squeezed a nerve on the old ice maiden's neck. "That one is better unconscious."

He smiled at Hiei, but Hiei did not seem reassured at all. He seemed torn between fear, guilt, anger and concern, and of all of those emotions, it was the first that bothered Kurama the most: Hiei was like an animal with how he dealt with his fear in that he simply used it to fuel more aggression, and so a fearful Hiei was a violent Hiei, and a violent Hiei was unlikely to be pleased to hear that, while he had been out cold, his friends had agreed to hand the ice maidens over to the doctors.

"Let's eat," Kurama insisted, opening the door.

Hiei slid from the console, took one last, conflicted look at the old ice maiden Kurama had rendered unconscious and then followed Kurama out the door. Outside the vehicle they found Yusuke and Kuwabara having a mild argument about something as they cooked the food they had managed to find in the forest.

"It's because you're a pussy," Yusuke said.

"I am not, Urameshi!" Kuwabara argued. "It's because Keiko is like my friend, and I see her in class sometimes, and I went to school with her before, and she sometimes comes over to my place to see my sister, and it just feels weird."

"It's because you're immature," Yusuke casually replied.

"I'm not immature, you're immature!"

"See, that was an immature thing to say."

"Pleasant campfire banter?" Kurama asked as he sat down across the fire from them.

"He's talking about things I don't wanna listen to!" Kuwabara moaned.

"You started the conversation!" Yusuke said.

"What's the conversation about?" Hiei asked, sitting down beside Kurama.

"I'll give you a hint," Yusuke replied.

He mimed out an elaborate gesture with both hands, but Hiei simply looked confused.

"I didn't know what it meant either," Kuwabara said. "So I asked. And then he started telling me about it. And I don't want to hear it."

"Because you're a pussy," Yusuke said.

"No, because you're talking about doing that to Keiko, and I have to be able to look her in the face without thinking about…"

"You think about what I do with Keiko when you're not around?"

"No! But when you talk about it in detail like that, I get images in my mind!"

"Is this conversation going to end before we start eating?" Kurama asked.

"Why, what's the matter, fox boy?" Yusuke responded.

"Nobody wants to know what you do to Keiko when you're alone with her, Urameshi!" Kuwabara said.

"And we'd all like to enjoy this meal without a lingering sense of nausea," Kurama added.

"You talk to your friends about the intimate expressions of love you perform with Keiko?" Hiei asked.

The others all turned to him with varying amounts of confusion and disgust on their faces.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Hiei?" Yusuke asked. "Seriously? "Intimate expressions of love"? Who the hell are you, Shakespeare? There's a nice little four-letter word for it, you know! It's called fu–"

"I think we all agree that this is something nobody wants to talk about any more," Kurama cut him off.

"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed.

"You're only saying that because you're jealous!" Yusuke said.

"Jealous of what?" Kuwabara echoed. "I don't want Keiko! I've never… Well, there was that one time I blacked out and woke up standing in the middle of the street and she was hugging me and that felt kinda nice, but otherwise ew!"

"I meant you're just pissed off because your girlfriend doesn't put out like mine does."

Kurama glanced nervously at Hiei, and was unsurprised to see him looking horrified by Yusuke's last words.

"Are you talking about Yukina?" Hiei asked.

Yusuke took a breath to answer, but then stopped as he seemed to finally notice the look on Hiei's face. He turned to Kurama, who shook his head to warn him not to continue.

"Yukina isn't that sort of girl," Kuwabara said. "And even if she was, I…"

Kuwabara's voice faded as he too noticed the look on Hiei's face.

"Oh, right, I forgot about that…" he muttered under his breath.

"You talk about Yukina this way too?" Hiei asked.

"No, definitely not!" Kuwabara assured him.

"We can't," Yusuke added. "Because there's nothing to talk about with Yukina. Nobody here has done anything to Yukina. Not even Kuwabara."

"But you would talk about her if one of you had?" Hiei asked.

"No!" Kuwabara replied.

"These conversations are never something Kuwabara or I start or indulge in," Kurama added.

"That's right," Yusuke agreed. "I'm the only one who talks about it… Because I'm the only one with something to talk about! Unless of course you have something you want to tell us, shorty?"

Hiei's top lip quivered as though he wanted to bare his teeth.

"What?" Yusuke asked. "No exciting stories about what you really get up to on those long, lonely shifts working the border patrol?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hiei quietly replied.

"That means he is hiding something," Yusuke said to Kuwabara.

"I hope he keeps it hidden," Kuwabara replied. "I'd like to eat my dinner and not throw it up again."

"We have something far more pressing to discuss," Kurama said, hoping to bring everyone back to order.

"Oh yeah?" Yusuke asked. "Are you finally gonna crack and tell us some of the stories about what you really got up to during your days hunting ice m–ah, uh, I mean, um…"

Yusuke looked over the fire at Hiei, half-expecting the flames to turn black and Hiei to dive through them and strangle the life out of him.

"Hiei, while you were unconscious, we had a small confrontation with one of the ice maidens," Kurama said, turning to Hiei. "She admitted she had been trying to incapacitate me with poison, and when she thought she had instead poisoned you, she refused to help cure you. We gave her the ultimatum of either helping you or losing our alliance, and she chose the latter."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Hiei asked nervously.

"She refused to help cure you, and she made it clear that she was willing to let you die because she, and the rest of her people, feel that they cannot trust us not to sell them to Enki," Kurama replied. "And now that she has acted this way, we no longer feel that we can trust her, or any of the rest of her people. We made the decision that as soon as you were cured, we would travel to the nearest hospital and leave the ice maidens there, where they can use their powers to help the sick, but they will be protected from exploitation by the hospital staff."

Hiei looked around the others before answering.

"You made that decision without checking if I agreed with you?" he asked.

"You were unconscious," Kurama reminded him. "We thought you were dying."

"But I wasn't," Hiei pointed out.

"But we thought you were," Kurama insisted. "And, more importantly, so did Mizore, and still she refused to help you, despite all you have done to help free her, her daughter and all the other ice maidens travelling with us."

"But I wasn't poisoned, so she didn't do anything wrong!"

"She was prepared to let you die."

"She was scared! She didn't know she could trust you after what you said about how her people should be made to use their powers to heal the sick – how they should be forced to stay in places they are unfamiliar with, surrounded by men and modern technology they have no experience of, and forced to use every last drop of their life energy to cure demons who previously hunted them with the intent of torturing them to make them cry! The ice village has been exposed, their lives are in ruins, they're scared, they're confused and they've all been raised in ignorance and in a protected, sheltered environment – they don't have the ability to cope with all of this madness!"

"I understand that you're upset–"

"I don't think that you do!"

"You're taking this far too personally. You know as well as I do that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

"Taking their lives means nothing if your friends get a quick and fast cure for their ailments?"

"Taking their lives is not a desirable option, but if it's the only option to save countless more lives then that is the way it has to be."

"I can't let you do this."

"You must."

"I can't believe you would do this. I thought you were all the spirit detective team? Isn't it your job to protect the vulnerable?"

"Um, no, not really…" Yusuke said. "The only thing we ever had to do when I was spirit detective was protect humans in living world."

"Yusuke's right," Kurama said. "And we are going to protect living world by making sure those ice maidens cure the sick."

"How is that protecting living world?" Hiei asked.

"Because as long as the ice maidens aren't helping the sick, the sick are looking for other healers, which means they are illegally entering living world, which, in itself, is a danger to the humans living there. But, more than that, as long as the sick are in living world searching for healers, spirit world can't release their ferry girls–"

"This is all about Botan?"

"Let me finish, please. As long as the ferry girls are contained, they can't collect souls from living world, and people are still dying as often as they always do. You already know a soul cannot survive long without a body to sustain it, and if those souls are left to roam living world, they will fade into nothingness instead of moving onto the afterlife as they ought to. If we don't stop the chaos here in demon world soon, we will be responsible for human souls being erased from existence. That, along with the numbers of lives we will lose to the virus, cannot be dismissed because you fear for the safety of a very small group of individuals. I know it's hard for you, but you need to keep this in perspective."

Hiei hung his head, hiding his face from the others. When he remained that way and said nothing, Yusuke began serving food onto leaves and passing it out. Hiei eventually looked up when Kurama placed a leaf down in front of him, his eyes moving to his meal.

"What will happen to them afterwards?" he asked quietly. "The ice maidens who live through this, where will they go? Or will they just be used as jewel factories? Because, you know, there are practical reasons for protecting them from such a fate."

"We will visit Enki and ensure that he personally returns all the ice maidens to their home once their work in demon world is done," Kurama replied. "And he will guard them until they are either sufficiently hidden once more or at least safely established somewhere that they won't be exploited."

"It only takes one ice maiden to destroy the balance of this world, you know."

Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara all paused, most of them with their mouths open or mid-chew.

"One ice maiden can produce enough hiruiseki to make anyone – including herself – richer than any rulers of demon world have ever been," Hiei continued. "She can use her wealth to buy a position of power and take over ownership of demon world in its entirety, or, if she was really angry with the inhabitants of this realm because they had exploited and abused her people, she might just disseminate her wealth amongst the poor, offsetting the real value of currency in the entire world and causing a global financial crisis that left the leaders, the merchants who had sold her people and anyone of influence completely destitute and at the mercy of whoever had become truly wealthy. Did any of you consider that at all?"

"Consider that?" Yusuke asked, spraying food as he spoke. "I don't even understand that!"

"I think I do," Kuwabara said, lowering his hand and replacing his food to his leaf. "We covered this in my economics class. Prices on everything are set based on how much people can and will pay for them. So, for example, if an ice maiden went around buying lots of fast cars, the prices would rise. If she kept paying the higher prices, the prices would keep rising, until soon nobody else but her would be able to afford them. Then the people who make the cars would earn higher salaries, so they would be rich too. The people who supply the materials to make the cars would charge higher prices because they know the manufacturers will pay. Meanwhile, people who ordinary cars would all go out of business because they couldn't afford to buy their supplies at the higher prices. And if she bought property instead of cars, property prices would be too high for ordinary people to buy, and it would make a lot of people homeless."

"How do you know all of that?" Yusuke asked.

"He's right," Kurama said. "Money injected into specific areas controls the lives of the general public in more ways than is immediately obvious. If the ice maidens had the presence of mind, they could single-handedly ruin the economy of our world."

"They do have the presence of mind," Hiei said. "What they lack is the motivation. But the massacre of most of their population, the loss of their home and the torture they will have endured serving the people of this world might be all the motivation they need."

"So… We're rescuing the ice maidens again then?" Yusuke asked. "The doctors at that first medical transporter we went to said the virus was being contained in certain regions, so there must be regions where nobody is sick. Maybe if we get Botan and Yukina down here to help out, we could let the ice maidens go back home, right?"

"But if curing the sick would drain the energy from a whole village of ice maidens, won't it be too much for just Botan and Yukina?" Kuwabara asked.

"We can no longer trust the women travelling with us," Kurama reminded them. "They have shown themselves to be sneaky liars with their own, underhanded agenda."

"Maybe the agenda isn't underhanded," Hiei muttered.

"We need to take this to Enki," Kurama insisted. "It's not our decision to make, and either way it needs to be controlled, and Enki has the resources to do that."

"Right, so how far to Enki's from here?" Kuwabara asked.

"It's about eight hours running," Yusuke replied.

"And about the same driving," Kurama said. "Assuming we don't encounter any more complications en route, and that we are able to take a fairly direct route there."

"There isn't enough room on that vehicle for us all to spend another night in it," Hiei said. "I read in the manual that there are bigger varieties of that vehicle, I think we need to swap ours for one with more bed-space."

"We don't have time for that," Kurama replied. "If we're all agreed, I suggest we finish eating and then start towards Enki immediately."

"Where will we camp overnight?" Kuwabara asked.

"We're not camping," Kurama replied. "We're not stopping. Hiei and I will split the journey between us so that one of us can sleep while the other drives."

"Right, then we can get back to spirit world and finish off Fabio," Yusuke said.

"Fumio," Kurama corrected him. "But let's not waste any more time now talking about it."

Yusuke nodded his agreement and continued eating, and Kuwabara followed his lead. Kurama started on his own meal, but from the corner of his eye he was painfully aware that Hiei was merely picking at his food. He ought to be starving, especially after their ordeal at the stadium in Gandara, and his loss of appetite could really only be a sign of one thing: the virus was making him sicker. He had not become gravely ill like some of the others they had encountered on their journeys, but it seemed as though the reason for that was that the virus was developing much slower in his system, and he was taking longer to show the symptoms. But the virus clearly was still progressing, which meant Hiei was still at risk of dying, and the only cure lay in the hands of the women who had cast him out of their tribe and refused to help him when he had seemed to be poisoned.

It was amazing that Hiei had not lost his temper and picked a fight with either Yusuke or Kuwabara yet.

* * *

"Ah!"

"Ah, Botan! What is wrong with you?"

Botan, who had just somehow launched herself from the couch to the other end of the room, pressed her back to the wall and looked about herself nervously, her chest heaving as though she had just run a marathon.

"If you can't handle a scary movie, I can change the channel," Shizuru said to her, wiggling the remote control in the air as she spoke.

"What's that?" Botan asked, holding up one finger.

"That's your finger," Shizuru replied with a dry smirk.

"No, who's that talking?" Botan asked.

"That's you, whispering in that creepy voice you use when you're scared and you don't want to admit it," Shizuru replied.

"No, no, no, no!" Botan hissed. "Listen properly and tell me what that is!"

"That's you getting angry."

"Stop joking around Missy, this is very serious!"

"See, I was right."

Shizuru turned back to face the television, settling back in the couch. Botan crept around the darkened room for a little while, looking all around herself and occasionally, and inexplicably, leaping away from her own shadow. Eventually she sat back down, but she still looked ridiculously afraid, and so Shizuru switched the television off.

"What did you do that for?" Botan asked her.

"Because obviously "Return of the Necromancer – A Lost Soul's Lament" is too much for you," Shizuru replied.

"That title's too much for anyone," Botan muttered.

"You'd be amazed at what some people consider art," Shizuru dryly replied.

"Put it back on!"

"Can you handle it?"

"I need it."

"You need it?"

Shizuru obligingly switched the television back on, laughing to herself at Botan's last remark.

"And turn it up louder," Botan said.

"The neighbours will complain if I turn it up any louder," Shizuru replied.

"I need it loud," Botan said.

"Why?"

"Because when it's loud, I can't hear the voices in my head."

Shizuru laughed openly and put an arm around Botan's shoulders.

"You always know how to make me laugh, sweetheart!" she said.

Botan smiled nervously back at her, but said no more. After all, there was nothing she could say if Shizuru thought she had been joking.

* * *

For reasons Yusuke would never understand, after being crowned supreme ruler of demon world, Enki had chosen to station himself in the far north of what was formerly Raizen's territory, in a temple built on a plateau high above ground, meaning that the weather around his headquarters was always colder than was comfortable. The worst time to experience that cold was when the sun low in the sky or absent altogether, and unfortunately, as they approached the temple, the sun had barely risen above the horizon, and Yusuke was painfully cold and angry before he even reached the front gates.

Kurama had parked the vehicle in a position where it would not be visible from Enki's temple – something Yusuke and Kuwabara had vehemently argued but Kurama had insisted on doing for the sake of exercising caution – and all four (Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei) had left the vehicle to continue their journey on foot. And for some reason that day, the cold was worse than it ever had been, a blustery wind billowing around the hillside, streams frozen over and a thin dusting of snow underfoot that was getting thicker as they neared their destination.

"Is Enki an ice demon?" Kuwabara asked, rubbing his arms in an attempt to bring some warmth back into them.

"No," Yusuke replied. "I think he just lives here because he thinks it's funny watching his visitors freeze their asses off getting here."

"If he was an ice demon, would that make him an ice master?" Kuwabara asked.

"Touya was an ice demon, and so was Seiryu," Yusuke reminded him. "It's not just those witches that are ice demons, you know."

"Oh yeah…"

Yusuke jogged the last few steps to the gates, his hand reaching for the latch, but he stopped just short of his goal as he heard movement further along the perimeter wall. He stepped back, standing alongside the others, to watch as a figure appeared at the top of the wall. The demon threw something over the wall and then lowered back down out of sight, leaving Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama exchanging confused looks. By the time they had finished watching each other expectant of an explanation, Hiei had already run over to the deposited pile in the snow.

Kurama nodded his head towards Hiei and all three hurried over to join him, finding him on his knees, apparently unaware or else immune to the fact that he was kneeling in a carpet of snow several inches deep, his arms hanging limply at his sides and his eyes large and staring at the bundle of dirty cloth on the ground in front of him.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked.

"Oh no…" Kuwabara said, kneeling down beside Hiei. "Oh God no…"

"What is it?" Yusuke demanded.

"A very bad sign," Kurama replied, looking up at the point of the wall the bundle had been thrown from.

Kuwabara carefully took hold of the top part of the tangled mess of cloth and carefully eased it over. Yusuke cursed and stepped back as Kuwabara uncovered a pale face staring up at them with lifeless eyes. Kuwabara placed a hand over the woman's forehead, frowning slightly as his mind began to fill with disturbing images.

"She was scared when she died," he said. "And she died slowly."

"Those auctions we intercepted, they…" Kurama began.

"They were legit," Yusuke finished.

"What?" Kuwabara asked, looking over his shoulder at them.

"We could be wrong," Kurama said. "This could be a misunderstanding."

"She's been stripped, bitten, battered and had her energy drained," Hiei said in a low voice. "What part of that don't you understand?"

"Let's continue inside," Kurama suggested. "Enki is a reasonable man, and – Hiei!"

Kurama reached out a hand to try to stop him, but Hiei dodged out of his reach and continued back to the gates. He wrenched open one gate just enough for him to slip through into the gardens beyond. Yusuke and Kurama ran after him, and, after lingering a little longer at the side of the fallen ice maiden, Kuwabara hurried to join them. They all stopped at the partially open gate, pausing long enough to see Hiei stop partway up the path to the temple building and turn to one side. He made a small noise, his eyes widening and his chest flinching back inwards as though he had been shot in the heart, and he dropped to his knees.

Yusuke cursed and yanked the gate open wide enough for them all to comfortably pass through. He hurried over to Hiei's side, followed by Kurama and Kuwabara, first focusing his attention on Hiei, ensuring that he had not actually been shot before turning his head to see what Hiei's staring eyes were so transfixed by.

Yusuke cursed again at what he saw: the lawns of Enki's temple were littered with miserable ice maidens unwillingly donating every ounce of energy they had to heal queues of sick demons. Many of the ice maidens were even older than the one old ice maiden onboard the tank, and many were even younger than Rikka, but the one thing that remained the same between them all was that they were straining to the limits of their abilities to perform the function required of them. Several of them – all children – were exhausted to the point of tears, and the more opportunistic visitors were standing by them with upturned hats, bags and hands to catch the hiruiseki they were generating.

"What the hell is this?" Kuwabara asked.

"This has gotta be a mistake," Yusuke insisted.

"Or perhaps not," Kurama said quietly, his eyes on the temple entrance.

Yusuke and Kuwabara turned to see Enki waving to them from the doorway, looking almost cheerful. They watched expectantly as he started towards them, each wondering if he was fully aware of what was going on in his own front yard and how he would react when he noticed: but he did not look around and his smile did not falter.

"Yusuke!" he said, stopping in front of them. "What brings you here?"

Yusuke turned to look at the horrific scenes playing out in Enki's garden.

"You're not sick are you?" Enki asked him. "These women can cure you if you are, though I thought I'd done a pretty good job of sending the rest of their village to all the major cities in the affected areas, you should have been able to find a healer closer to where you live."

"It was you?" Yusuke asked, turning back to Enki. "This was your idea?"

"What are you talking about?" Enki asked.

"Taking the ice maidens from their village and forcing them to use their powers to cure the sick," Kurama said. "Was it your idea, and did you sanction it?"

"It wasn't my idea, some soldiers from spirit world first told me where those women lived and what they could do," Enki replied. "But I've been trying my best to make sure there's a few of them in every infected city so that we can get this virus cleared up already!"

"But these women are being sold in cages," Yusuke pointed out.

"We have to keep them in cages, they're quite slippery and they keep trying to escape. They're ice demons, and they're the reason there's so much snow around here right now: they keep freezing everything!"

"But they're being sold," Yusuke repeated.

"Doctors do have to charge for their services. And the guards who have to keep those women in line need paying too."

"But…"

Yusuke lowered his eyes to Hiei, who had become positively catatonic: which was probably for the best, since him losing his temper and going on an anger-fuelled rampage of vengeance would have been disastrous.

"Hey, what's wrong with Hiei?" Enki asked, frowning down at Hiei. "Is he sick?"

"Not as sick as he's gonna be when he comes back to reality and realises what's really going on…" Yusuke muttered.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Botan is troubled by nightmares, Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara come to an agreement of how they will handle the situation at Enki's, but unfortunately for them, Hiei has his own plan for how to handle the situation. Yusuke puts his detective skills to work and finally figures out why Hiei seems out of character – but Kurama doesn't buy his theory. **Chapter 17 – True Nature**


	17. True Nature

**Chapter 17: True Nature**

"Do we agree with this?" Yusuke whispered.

"I don't agree with it," Kuwabara mumbled. "Just thinking about it is making me feel sick."

"And getting angry about it won't solve anything," Kurama whispered. "We all need to stay calm."

"Like Hiei did?" Yusuke asked sarcastically.

Hiei had not responded verbally or physically to anyone or anything since he had witnessed his people being forced, en masse, to use their powers, some teetering on the point of death from exhaustion. Yusuke had eventually been forced to pick Hiei up and carrying his stiff, unmoving body into the temple and lie him down in a guest room Enki had directed him to. Yusuke had then rejoined the others as they sat down to tea, but, although Kokou was being uncharacteristically gracious as a host, the atmosphere was anything but pleasant.

"Don't forget where we are," Kurama whispered. "We have been lucky in our previous escapades but we can't take those sorts of risks in a place like this."

"So what, we just walk away and pretend we're okay letting all those women suffer like that?" Kuwabara asked.

"They are curing the sick here, and when we helped some of them, they tried to kill us," Yusuke said. "But… I don't really think working kids to death like that is right."

"They were making them cry too!" Kuwabara added.

"Yeah, and when Hiei wakes up, he's gonna be mad, and he'll probably get really violent really quickly."

"Do you think that Enki guy would take better care of the ice maidens if we asked him to?"

"He's a reasonable guy, but he has to look after the sick, and the ice maidens haven't exactly made themselves likeable in all of this, so it's hard to say."

"We need to stay calm, stay quiet and wait for daybreak. We'll take our leave then."

Yusuke and Kuwabara turned to Kurama, who was sipping at his tea and watching Kokou moving about in the other room.

"So you still think we should just walk away from this?" Yusuke asked. "I know Enki makes the laws around here, and this is demon world, people aren't exactly all about kindness and sympathy here, but shouldn't we at least ask him to make sure those women don't die helping the sick?"

"We take the children and the elderly, we leave the others behind," Kurama replied. "We don't have room or time to save them all, and if we even tried to take them all, we would cause another wave of chaos and panic as the sick tried to find other ways to cure themselves."

"You-you changed your mind?" Kuwabara asked.

"We take the children and the elderly," Kurama repeated. "We leave the others behind."

"So are you saying we take the adults off our tank and trade them in for the kids and old ladies stuck here?" Yusuke asked.

"Unofficially, yes," Kurama replied. "We're not going to tell Enki or the women in our party what our intentions are, we're just going to do it. The staff here stop work at dawn for breakfast, and during their meal time the healers here are to be locked into a room at the back of the temple. I propose we forego the meal and split into two groups: one group will free the children and elderly and load them onto the vehicle parked behind the temple and the other group will take the women from our own vehicle, along with any useful supplies, and deposit the adults in the temple and load the children and elderly onto the vehicle. Then we all leave."

"Where will we go?" Kuwabara asked. "Won't the ice maidens be hunted wherever they go?"

"We take them back to their village," Kurama replied. "I counted at least three elders out there, and we already have a fourth elder with us. Four elders should be powerful enough to do what is necessary to hide their village once more, and with the children they can rebuild their community."

"And we leave all the others around the world to cure the sick?" Yusuke asked.

"The doctors told us the virus had been contained to a certain area, and I believe we've already covered the major settlements of that area," Kurama replied. "There is only one other city where there might have been auctions, and there is of course the highly likely possibility that other ice maidens fled or were kidnapped by rogue demons, but if we take the elders and the children from here, we will have saved the majority of the young and the old from the village. I think it's a fair compromise to take those we can home and to leave the strongest and most able behind to help the sick."

"I guess that sounds fair," Yusuke agreed. "I don't think Hiei will agree, but it sounds fair to me."

"And after they finish curing the sick, we come back for the surviving adults and take them home too, right?" Kuwabara asked.

"We could do, yes," Kurama agreed.

"Then I think that sounds fair too," Kuwabara said.

"Good, I'm glad we're finally all in agreement about this," Kurama said. "Now we just need to wait patiently, plan out our movements and choose our time to make our escape very carefully."

* * *

Shizuru awoke abruptly, looking first at her window to confirm that it was still dark beyond the curtains before begrudgingly rising from her bed. Botan had been jumpy all evening – probably because she was less able to handle watching horror movies than she pretended to be – and Shizuru had been reasonably tolerant of the ferry girl's skittish behaviour. However, she was not prepared to tolerate Botan shouting out frantically and thumping around her room in the middle of the night.

Shizuru headed for her bedroom door, tucking her hair behind her ears before she pulled the door open. The hallway beyond was empty, and fortunately it seemed as though the ruckus their guest was creating had not been sufficiently disturbing to awaken Shizuru's father. She left her room and crossed the hall to Kuwabara's room – where Botan was staying – and angrily pushed open the door without realising that Botan was almost immediately behind it, and inadvertently banging the door into Botan's back. Botan yelped in pain and staggered forwards a step, her head dropping into her hands as though she thought the blow might have loosened it from her shoulders.

"I told you not to watch that movie," Shizuru said through a sigh. "If you're having nightmares, you can come and stay in my room, just promise you won't keep shouting and thrashing about."

Botan's head snapped up and she ran to the window, ripping open the curtain and almost breaking her face against the window as she shot forwards to look up at the sky outside.

"Did you have a nightmare about angry ferry girls coming to take you home?" Shizuru asked.

"No…" Botan slowly replied. "It… It felt so real, I can't believe I was just dreaming!"

"Come on through to my room and tell me all about it," Shizuru offered.

She had no real intention of lending a sympathetic ear to Botan's problems; rather she was hoping that if she get Botan talking, she could at least go back to sleep and leave the edgy ferry girl recalling her dreams until she fell asleep too.

"I had the most awful nightmare about Puu," Botan said, turning from the window to face Shizuru.

"Well that's not really surprising considering the fact that he was attacking you not so long ago," Shizuru replied.

"I dreamt that he was in a forest somewhere, and there was a sword and some mixing bowls and a paintbrush and a first-aid box and some clothes and a magic bubble."

Shizuru's mouth began to turn downwards.

"You woke me up screaming out like you were being tortured over a dream you had about Yusuke's pet bird and a magic bubble?" she asked.

"The bubble had malicious intent," Botan added.

"It's hardly material for "Return of the Necromancer – This Time for Good"."

"It felt very angry and scary."

"If you keep screaming like that, I'm going to start to feel very angry and scary."

"Usually my dreams are unangry and unscary."

Shizuru folded her arms and began slowly narrowing her eyes. Botan eventually seemed to realise how displeased she was becoming and sighed in acceptance.

"I promise I won't do it again," she said.

"Good," Shizuru said.

"Unless the magic bubble comes back."

"Botan!"

"Okay not at all."

Shizuru stepped back out of the room, watching her guest expectantly.

"Are you coming with me?" she asked.

"No, I'll be fine in here," Botan replied.

"Okay, but no more screaming."

"No more screaming."

* * *

"Hey! Stop that screaming!"

Kuwabara cowered down, his arms covering his head. He noticed Kurama watching him curiously from the corner of one eye and he grinned nervously.

"Angry women make me scared," he sheepishly explained. "I don't know why…"

"I said shut the hell up!" Kokou shouted, shaking a beer bottle at the window.

"You should be afraid of her," Yusuke said to Kuwabara. "She's as tough as she is loud."

"What is she yelling at, anyway?" Kuwabara asked.

"I dunno, she's probably just drunk again," Yusuke casually replied.

He started to turn away but noticed Kokou was suddenly looking in his direction, and he ducked an instant before her bottle of beer flew over his head and smashed against the wall behind him.

"Make your bird stop that noise!" she ordered him. "I've got a headache!"

"You didn't have to nearly give me a headache, you crazy bitch!" Yusuke snapped back.

"All of this is giving me a headache," Kuwabara groaned.

Yusuke stomped across the room to join Kokou by the window, peering out to see Puu standing on the lawn calling out frantically.

"He's probably just hungry," Yusuke told Kokou.

"Then feed him, idiot!" she growled back.

"Fine…"

Yusuke picked up an apple from a nearby fruit bowl and opened the window, hurling the fruit at Puu. Puu leaned out of range but otherwise did not acknowledge the offer, instead continuing to call out his name.

"Dumb bird!" Yusuke muttered, climbing out the window. "What the hell's the matter with you?"

He walked up to Puu expectantly, noticing as he drew nearer that Puu was shaking. He told hold of his spirit beast's beak, trying to close it, and Puu seemed to take the hint, because he fell silent.

"Is everything alright?" Kurama called to him from the window.

"Yeah, I dunno what got into him," Yusuke replied. "Maybe he's scared of the dark."

"Wouldn't that mean that you're scared of the dark, Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked.

Yusuke began muttering unflattering descriptions of Kuwabara under his breath, turning around to fully face them as he did so. As he turned, he was briefly afforded a view along the side of the temple towards the front yard, where the ice maidens had been curing the sick earlier that night. The sky was still dark, but dawn was no more than an hour away.

"Hey, you guys should come out here," he said.

Kuwabara scrunched up his face in confusion but Kurama climbed out of the window, moving towards Yusuke and turning his head towards the front yard as though he already knew what Yusuke had seen there.

"So that plan you had," Yusuke greeted him. "Looks like we have to start it a bit early."

Kurama kept his head turned from Yusuke, his eyes flitting over the chaotic scene to one side of them.

"Where's Hiei?" he asked.

"I'm guessing Puu knows the answer to that," Yusuke replied. "Though we probably ought to know it too."

Kuwabara eventually joined them, frowning curiously at Puu.

"So what spooked the bird?" he asked.

Yusuke gave a slight nod of his head in the direction Kurama was still staring and Kuwabara turned, barely managing to contain a cry of alarm at what he saw: the front lawn had been massacred, trees broken apart, and the bodies of the guards and the sick were all incapacitated, either under a layer of ice or else in a crumpled heap amongst the carpet of snow that had deepened substantially since their arrival at the temple, in some places rising as high as the temple walls themselves.

"Let's just go before someone notices," Yusuke whispered, before jumping up onto Puu's back.

Kurama and Kuwabara followed after him and Puu immediately took to the skies, rising straight upwards at first, affording them a better view of the destruction that had somehow taken place in the temple grounds without anyone inside the temple being made aware of it. It looked as though the ice maidens had worked together to turn the front lawn into a deadly tundra, and, as Puu started to fly away from the temple, all three passengers on his back noticed the very obvious, clear, paved rectangle amidst the snow-covered back yard and the thick, deep tracks leading away from it.

"Was that out getaway car?" Yusuke asked Kurama.

"It was," Kurama confirmed. "I don't know if Hiei took it or the guards took it to chase after him."

"Hiei's really taking this personally, huh?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yeah, though I don't really understand why," Yusuke replied. "He hates the hags from the ice village because they threw him out and treated his mom and his sister like outcasts too."

"The ice maidens were mean to Yukina?" Kuwabara asked. "But why? She's so inoffensive, she'd never do anything to make anyone mad or want to be mean to her."

"I don't know the whole story, but Botan said Yukina never visits the village any more because she isn't welcome there any more," Yusuke said. "Maybe they found out she found Hiei. Or maybe it was just because she went looking for him in the first place. Who knows?"

"I believe Hiei still feels a strong familial bond to the women of the ice village," Kurama said.

"Is that why he goes there every Christmas time with a big sack full of gifts for every little girl in the village?" Yusuke asked sarcastically.

"He would never admit to it, not even to himself, but I do believe he feels a connection to the ice maidens," Kurama patiently replied. "This has been a very difficult period for him, not only because he has seen his people suffering, but because he has been forced into close quarters with them, forced to really experience them up close and personal."

"Hey, Hiei was the one who forced those popsicle-popping bitches on us, remember?" Yusuke pointed out.

"My point is that this has been a very difficult experience for Hiei, and all the more so because he is plagued by his illness and confused by these new feelings, and he doesn't know how to express himself."

"So that's why he's been sweaty and edgy lately?"

"I think we should all consider Hiei's current dilemma and try to be sympathetic."

"Hiei hates sympathy! And besides, he – holy crap, what the hell is that thing?"

"That is our getaway car."

Yusuke turned to stare at Kurama, hoping to find that he was joking, but instead found him nodding solemnly. He leaned forwards and peered over Puu's shoulder again at the enormous vehicle thundering down the mountainside ahead of them, partly impressed that Hiei was managing to drive it after his previous performances behind the wheel but mostly awed at just how much bigger the vehicle he had stolen from Enki was. It had what looked like a small landing deck on the back of it which could easily have housed the previous vehicle they had stolen. Puu began to dive down towards the landing deck, swinging out his feet in preparation of touching down. Kuwabara started to suggest that what they were doing was actually very fast and dangerous, but his speech was cut short as the vehicle bumped over a boulder and the deck rose up to meet them, causing Puu to bounce off the deck and fall down, throwing all three passengers from his back.

Kuwabara fell to one side, clattering into the side barrier, Kurama fell to the other side, narrowly missing hitting his head on the barrier there and Yusuke flew over Puu's neck, hitting the deck and rolling into a wall. He was the first to rise, shaking himself off and getting to his feet. He glanced at Kuwabara and Kurama, checking that they were both still moving, before focusing his attention on Puu. The spirit beast slowly got to his feet and shook all over, his ears flapping against the sides of his neck and his feathers ruffling all down the length of his wings.

"Are you okay, buddy?" Yusuke called over to him.

Puu cheerfully called out to him, a sure sign that he was unharmed, and so Yusuke turned around to face the wall he had collided with, yelping and leaping back a step as he suddenly found himself looking at a ghostly figure standing in an open doorway.

"Come inside."

"I'm not doing anything you tell me to!"

Yusuke took another step back, scowling at Mizore, who looked slightly sad – though that was very close to her normal expression, so it was difficult for him to tell if she actually felt sad now or not.

"Go inside, Yusuke," Kurama said as he joined them. "We need to talk to Hiei, and the only way to get to him is to enter here."

"Fine," Yusuke grumbled, marching past Mizore.

Kurama waved Kuwabara in ahead of him, watching him pass through the doorway before turning to Mizore.

"I did what I had to to survive," she said as their eyes met. "Surely you understand that?"

Kurama tensed, silently wondering how she had found out that he was a fox demon inside a human body: but her next words soon vanquished the thought from his mind.

"We didn't judge you for pretending to be a man, Miss Kurama."

"Most people don't," he replied through a sigh.

She frowned slightly but he did not wait around to explain his words to her, instead continuing inside and walking along the walkway beyond into the driver's cabin, where he found Yusuke, Kuwabara and the demented old ice maiden standing at the back of the room, all watching the large driver's chair, which completely obscured Hiei from their view.

"I know you didn't want to do this," Hiei said. "But I don't care any more. I'll do this without you if I have to. I asked Puu to bring you here so that I could give you the choice: you can either come with me to Dardani, or Puu will take you back to Enki and you can do what you want from there. But I am continuing on whatever you all decide."

"Hiei, we had a plan for dealing with this, you know!" Yusuke started.

"Yes, I do know," Hiei replied. "You planned to let Enki deal with this, and his plan was to work the women of the ice village to extinction. I don't like that plan, so now I've made my own one. Either you're with me, or you're against me."

"Nobody's against you!" Yusuke said. "We just think it would be better if some of the women helped the sick. We intended to save the kids and the pensioners!"

"Not good enough," Hiei flatly replied.

Yusuke turned to Kurama and Kuwabara expectantly and Kurama held up a hand to tell him to stop. He then started to approach the driver's chair.

"Yusuke is telling the truth," he said. "We did intend to return the elders and the minors to the village, and we were going to ask Enki to take better care of the others. We intended to come back to take the remainder of the women home after they had cured the sick."

"Intentions are meaningless in demon world," Hiei replied. "I can see that now."

Kurama sighed, stepping up to the navigation computer, surprised to see that Hiei had programmed it to guide him to Dardani – which was the last major settlement in the locum of the quarantined area the doctors had previously told them was rife with infected demons. It was likely that they might encounter another auction there, but Kurama was not sure that Hiei would survive another ordeal like that again.

"We have already recovered four of the elders," Kurama began, trying to talk in a gentle and calming tone. "Four elders are–"

"One short," Hiei cut him off. "There were five elders, including that one," he nodded towards the batty old ice maiden still standing in the cabin with them, "although she's not actually a part of the council of elders, she's old enough to be and she likes to think that she is. The other three are in the back, but that one's mother is missing, and so is Rui."

"Rui?" Kurama echoed. "But isn't she the one who threw you–"

"I have to find Rui."

"But I thought you–"

"If you don't want to come along, you're welcome to leave!"

Kurama looked back over his shoulder at Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"I want to go with Hiei," Kuwabara said. "There might be more little kids in Dardani, I think we should at least check it out."

"Yeah, and maybe we need to get all the elders back to fix the ice village," Yusuke added. "I'm going with Hiei too."

"What about you, Kurama?" Hiei asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

"I can't leave you like this," Kurama replied. "I'm coming with you."

Hiei smiled a tight-lipped, lop-sided smile and a strange look passed over his eyes.

"When you reach the base of the mountain, there is an under-pass below the main route to Dardani," Kurama told him. "Stop when you get there and let me drive."

"You think I can't handle this?" Hiei asked, his smile fading.

"No, but I can drive faster than you can," Kurama replied. "And I know the route better than you do, and I want to get this over with before we lose another day."

"I suppose that's fair."

Kurama patted Hiei on the shoulder, surprised that the fire demon let him do it without trying to hit his hand away or pulling a disgusted face at him. He turned to the others, pausing as he noticed Mizore joining them. Yusuke eyed her over suspiciously and she bowed her head to him expressionlessly.

"So that was quite a number you did on Enki's garden," he said to her.

"Excuse me?" she echoed.

"You know, freezing everything over and making all that snow," Yusuke explained. "And you annihilated all the trees."

"Frost crack," she replied.

Yusuke's face twisted and his squared his shoulders defensively.

"Listen lady, you even try to frost my crack and I'll shove your head so far up your ass, you'll spend the rest of your life looking for a damn light switch, you–"

"She said frost crack, Yusuke," Kurama stopped him. "It's a condition trees exposed to sudden cold suffer from. It's usually just a mild breakage in the bark, but sometimes it can penetrate deeper into the body of the tree, depending how vulnerable the point of attack is."

Yusuke nodded his head and appeared to consider this information for a few seconds before his expression gave way to confusion.

"I am talking about trees, Yusuke," Kurama insisted. "Not using coy euphemisms to perplex you."

"…It still sounds like she wants to spread–"

"Just trees, Yusuke. Just trees."

Yusuke looked less than certain, turning his attention to Mizore to eye her over suspiciously.

"If we apply our ice powers to the relevant weak point, we can make trees literally explode," she explained. "It's a useful technique for dealing with demons who use trees as weapons."

"You mean like how Hiei made that tree Fabio used against me and Kuwabara shatter open?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama turned to look down at Hiei questioningly, and he could not help but notice the way Hiei tightened his grip of the steering wheel and a fresh layer of sweat burst out across his face.

"Hey, wait a minute…" Yusuke said slowly. "If Hiei used frosted crack to kill that tree, doesn't that mean he has ice powers now?"

"…Frosted crack…?" Kuwabara echoed.

"Hiei doesn't have ice powers, he's a fire demon," Kurama said.

"Unless he wasn't a fire demon," Yusuke replied.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kuwabara asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Yusuke said, grinning at Kurama and Kuwabara in turn. "Think about it: Hiei got sick and ran away because he didn't want anyone to see how bad he looked. Then when he came back, he was all pale and sweaty and skinny, and he started "bathing" all the time, those wood nymphs couldn't read his desires, Chu thought he was a girl, he's really slow and weak, he can use frosty crack and, most importantly of all, even though he's got the virus, he isn't getting any sicker."

Kuwabara slowly shook his head.

"I don't get your point that you said was so obvious," he said. "Unless by obvious you meant you were about to state the obvious, which is exactly what you just did."

"Hiei isn't actually Hiei," Yusuke said.

"What?" Kurama echoed.

"See, Koenma made me detective for a reason," Yusuke said. "And Kurama, I'm kinda disappointed you didn't notice it way sooner, since you're meant to be the smart one. And even you Kuwabara, you're supposed to be the sensitive one and you didn't notice?"

"Notice what?" Kuwabara asked.

"Well the final proof is that Hiei told me he knew the ice maidens would be able to cure the virus before anyone else knew," Yusuke continued. "Don't you see? When Hiei became sick, he ran away because he knew he would die if he didn't ask Yukina for help to cure him, and Hiei's too stubborn to ask for help, so he ran away because he knew he had to cure himself."

"What?" Kurama and Kuwabara asked in unison.

"Think about it: Hiei's mom was an ice maiden, so he has ice maiden genes, right? So when he became sick, those genes were awoken, and he cured himself. Only in order to cure himself, he had to let his ice maiden genes take control of his body, and even then, because he was still a three-eyed fire demon, his frosty powers weren't strong enough to completely heal him, so now he's stuck in his ice maiden form, and that's why he was hiding from us! Hiei didn't want us to see him all girly, but he had to come out of hiding when he found out the virus was spreading and the ice village might be exposed. And now, he's on this "save the snow-women" rampage because he feels guilty because he knows that he knew that they were the cure all along, and if he had said or done something right from the start, the ice village would never have been exposed. He's not doing this because he's suddenly a caring guy, he's doing this because he's pissed off about feeling guilty and because he's hoping he can find a way to ask one of the women here now to turn himself back into his full fiery, manly self."

Yusuke smiled smugly, despite the withering look Kurama was giving him and the stupefied look Kuwabara was wearing.

"This one isn't very bright," the old ice maiden said, pointing at Yusuke.

"Shut-up you old hag, I'm right and you know it!" Yusuke snapped at her.

"Yusuke, I know you haven't been a demon for very long, but even you should know that demons don't – and in fact can't – change their powers," Kurama pointed out.

"Bullshit!" Yusuke retorted. "Hiei was a fire demon, and after his eye operation, he became a telepath too!"

"Yes, after he underwent extensive surgery, at the cost of a high percentage of his demonic power, he gained telepathic abilities," Kurama conceded. "But that operation did not change the fact that Hiei is a fire demon, and Hiei has not undergone surgery since."

"Yeah, but, like you just said, when Hiei got the jagan eye, he lost some of his demon power in order to change his abilities, right?"

"Yes, but I don't see how that's relevant to–"

"The same thing happened here! Hiei is weaker, and the reason is because he sacrificed his demon power again to master the frosty powers he needed to cure himself!"

"Hiei sacrificed his own strength so that he could turn into a girl?" Kuwabara asked.

"That's absurd," Mizore said.

"You're a turd!" Yusuke shouted at her.

"It is ludicrous, Yusuke," Kurama said. "Hiei hasn't turned into an ice maiden, either in terms of his powers or literally in his physical being. Don't you think we all would have noticed much sooner if that were the case?"

"Yeah, Kurama's right, Urameshi," Kuwabara agreed. "Hiei can't have turned into a girl, he still has a – uh…"

Kuwabara glanced nervously back and forth between the old ice maiden and Mizore.

"We were just leaving," Mizore said, moving over and taking the elder by the arm.

"These kids are all too excitable," the old ice maiden said as she allowed Mizore to walk her across the cabin. "They all waste too much time on adulterous behaviour, it's disgusting."

"Pfft, you're just jealous that you're past it, you old bat!" Yusuke muttered.

"Except this one," the old woman said, pausing in front of Yusuke. "This one doesn't waste time on lewd shenanigans. This one just wastes time talking about it too much."

"At least I've got something to talk about, grandma!" Yusuke retorted.

"Too much talking," she said again before continuing on her way.

"What the hell would you know about it anyway?" Yusuke shouted after her. "What does she know about it, right?" he asked, turning back to the others. "She's lived in that nunnery all her life, I bet she doesn't even know how to peel a banana, let alone how to–"

"Yusuke, please," Kurama cut him off. "She's an old lady, and not of stable mind: Mizore told me that lady has been kept isolated from the rest of her village because she is dangerously mentally unstable."

"She's making me dangerously mentally unstable…" Yusuke grumbled.

"Okay, let's just all try to stay calm," Kurama insisted. "Kuwabara, check the supplies closet, make sure we have enough water in the tank and the basics of first aid equipment and bedding – we're not likely to need it, but we should err on the side of caution. Yusuke, take stock of our food supplies and let me know if we're low on anything before we stop so that we can go hunting if need be. Hiei, I'm going to attempt to negotiate with the ice maidens to make sure none of them are hurt or in desperate need of anything, I'll be back before you stop."

"Wait, before any of us does any of those things, I have to know if Hiei is stuck as a half-girl now or not," Yusuke said. "So Hiei, are you–"

"Yusuke, please stop," Kurama cut him off.

"Yeah Urameshi, that's just stupid," Kuwabara added.

He leaned forwards, checking that the ice maidens were out of sight before stepping closer to Yusuke.

"Besides, when I was carrying Hiei on my back after we fought those wood nymphs, I could feel his junk against my back."

Yusuke slowly raked his eyes over Kuwabara.

"You felt Hiei's junk?" he asked.

"Yeah, it was really…" Kuwabara began. "No, wait not like that! I wasn't touching it! It was touching me!"

"You need to get laid," Yusuke said through a sigh.

"That's your answer to everything!" Kuwabara cried.

Yusuke shook his head and started towards the back of the cabin.

"It's the answer to most problems," he said casually.

"That's not true, Urameshi!" Kuwabara argued, stomping after him. "Sometimes there are better ways to feel better!"

"Like what?"

"Like… Um…"

"Why am I even asking you? You've wasted the last how many years with Yukina? And you still haven't even gotten to first base with her…"

"I'm being a gentleman!"

"A gentleman with hairy palms…"

"Shut the hell up!"

Kurama roughly closed the door at the back of the cabin, blocking out the rest of Yusuke and Kuwabara's argument.

"Thank you," Hiei said, keeping his eyes on the road. "I don't know that I could have listened to much more of that."

"Yes, under the circumstances, you've been incredibly tolerant of their antics," Kurama said, crossing back over to stand by Hiei's chair. "Perhaps though you are allowing their idiocy to go unchecked because their behaviour is distracting attention away from yours."

"I don't know what you mean," Hiei flatly replied.

"What you did at Enki's temple was simple insubordination," Kurama reminded him. "Some leaders would punish such behaviour with death – and probably not in the form of a swift execution."

"I did what was right."

"You did what you thought was right for you."

"And you wanted to let my people be tortured to death, which is what was right for you."

"I didn't say letting the ice maidens suffer was right. I never said that, and I don't believe that at all. I do however believe that they have a duty to help the sick."

"They don't have a duty to anyone or anything."

"Hiei, Mizore thought she'd poisoned you, and she didn't care if you died. She refused to help us cure you."

"What would you have done if you had been in her shoes?"

"That's not the point."

"That's exactly the point."

Kurama frowned at Hiei's last words, silently wondering why he felt like, lately at least, the more Hiei spoke, the less he really knew about him.

"I understand why you feel the way you do," he tried. "But I don't think you appreciate how many will die if the ice maidens don't help."

"They've already been made to help hundreds," Hiei replied. "They shouldn't be forced into doing any more."

Kurama started to turn from Hiei, intent on taking a moment to compose his thoughts before continuing their discussion, but he was distracted from the topic as his eyes fell to the navigation device.

"When did you figure out how to work this thing?" he asked instead.

Hiei glanced briefly at the monitor before giving a small shrug.

"I've always known," he said, his tone a little strained. "I guess it was just like the actual driving: it's been so long since I've been inside and in control of one of this particular class of vehicles that I had forgotten some of the… Pertinent aspects of the workings of the… Vehicles."

Kurama nodded slowly.

"I thought perhaps you'd given yourself a crash-course, after reading the user manual so extensively," he said.

"I wasn't reading the manual extensively," Hiei lied. "Just… Passively."

Kurama smiled to himself, but was careful not to let Hiei see his amusement: although Hiei's illness had altered his personality somewhat, his stubbornness remained as steadfast as ever.

"I'm going to talk to our guests, just to check none of them are in need of urgent medical assistance," Kurama said.

"Be gentle with her," Hiei said quietly.

"…Her?" Kurama muttered curiously.

"Just… Remember that leaving the ice village and experiencing other cultures and having to adjust from a life of repression to one where she was surrounded by people who express their emotions freely and abundantly was… Difficult," Hiei added.

Kurama nodded.

"I'll bear that in mind," he said.

He waited to see if Hiei would say anything more, but the fire demon remained silent, and so Kurama took his leave.

* * *

The sky overhead was an unsettling, eerie shade of blue. It had been almost respectably light on the approach to Genkai's temple, but down on the forest floor it was almost unacceptably dark, visibility between the trees being especially limited. Botan crept onwards, her eyes on the sky as she walked, her toes poking at the ground cautiously before she dared to place each foot down. She had a terrible idea that the evil bubble from her dreams was going to descend from the sky and devour her at any moment, and she was so distracted with looking for its imminent attack that she was not paying sufficient attention to where she was putting her feet – and, despite fumbling around with the tips of her toes, she inadvertently stepped into a pot-hole, one foot sinking down far below her and the other skidding out from under her. She hit the ground and slid down the steep slope, barely managing to bring up her feet up before the rest of her collided with the base of a tree. She took a few moments to collect her thoughts, mostly wondering why she had not taken Shizuru's offer a few hours earlier and attempted to sleep in her room, before grabbing at the trunk of the tree and pulling herself to her feet.

Botan looked about herself, her head throbbing slightly as she felt her attention being pulled in one very specific direction. She carefully edged towards the large, dead and mostly hollowed out tree she felt drawn to, kneeling down before it and clawing through the loose leaves around her. Her hands shortly collided with something hard and she began to work faster, soon uncovering two common mixing bowls, a large mixing spoon and a paintbrush. One bowl had streaks of a chalky black substance in it and the other had a layer of something white that was solid, but looked as though it had once been a liquid.

"What now?" she asked, looking up at the sky. "I don't know what this means! What am I supposed to do with this? Why is it here? What is it for?"

When the skies gave her no answer, Botan recovered her communication mirror from her pocket, negating the risks of using it on the basis that her sanity depended on finding an answer to her questions. She flipped it open and pushed the button to call Yusuke, silently formulating what excuse would sound best to give him for why she needed to speak with Hiei at such an ungodly hour of the morning; but she was saved the agony of telling an unnecessary lie when Hiei's face appeared before her.

"Hiei!" she cheerfully greeted him. "There you are!"

"And there you are," he replied, as monotonously as ever.

"Well, I did what you asked, and you were right about those things being where you said they would be," she said.

He frowned slightly.

"I don't know what you want me to do with them though Hiei," she continued. "You weren't very specific – though you were very demanding. You know, a girl needs her beauty sleep, and it's not very courteous of you to invade her dreams and pollute her brain with surreal images of scary and mean bubbles of nastiness."

"Have you been drinking?" Hiei asked.

"No I have not!" Botan yelped indignantly. "I just did what you told me to, Mister!"

"I didn't tell you to do anything," he replied.

"You did too!" she argued. "You asked me to find the tools, and you made me have horrible dreams about them and where they were, and now I've found them and you're being a meanie!"

"Botan… Wait… Are you in living world?"

"Yes! You already know that I am!"

"I thought you were ordered to return to spirit world?"

"I had to come back here. I wanted to help. And I thought you wanted to let me help, but it looks like you've just wasted my time sending me on some strange treasure hunt!"

"Botan, pull yourself together!"

"But… You told me I had to do this. You told me Yukina was in danger and I had to find these items to help save her."

Hiei's eyes grew in size until he looked almost comical.

"You're the only one on the team who thought enough of me to think that I could help you," Botan added.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Hiei muttered.

"Oh, don't the others know that you asked for my help?" she asked. "Is it a secret? Just between you and me?"

"Botan, please listen to me, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, I understand."

Botan nodded and winked at her communicator.

"I'll just wait for your next "internal communication"," she said, tapping a finger against her temple and winking again.

"…What?" he echoed.

"I really appreciate that you thought you could trust me like this, and I promise I won't let you down," she said. "And Hiei, I… I wanted you to know that solving mysteries isn't the only thing you and I could do well together."

"Excuse me?"

"I could satisfy more than just your need for information. I could satisfy many of your other needs, you know."

"I don't know any of that."

"Do you remember that night we shared together at our last reunion dinner?"

"I… Never… Come to any of your… Reunion… Dinners?"

"I know it was very naughty of me to lure you away before you even made it to the front door, but I wanted you to know that I haven't forgotten anything about that night – and I think you enjoyed yourself too…"

"Um… What?"

"You left so quickly, you never gave me the chance to tell you that I wanted it to be something we did more regularly and something we did more… Thoroughly."

"But… We never… Did we?"

"It's okay, I haven't told anyone, and I never will. Not even if we did take that extra step. I just want to know that you want to do it again just as badly as I do. And that maybe next we could… Push it just a little bit further."

"I really, really want to… Um…"

"I really, really want you too, Hiei."

"I… Can't, um, really, um… I mean…"

"You don't have to say anything. Just like that one night, you can just show me the next time we're alone together. Just promise me we can have more chances to be alone together."

"Botan, please, I need you–"

Botan yelped as the image of Hiei vanished as though he had just snapped shut Yusuke's communication mirror, prematurely ending their conversation. She pouted dejectedly and looked down at the items before her again.

"Well what am I supposed to do with some random kitchen utensils?" she moaned miserably.

* * *

"Have-have we stopped?" Hiei asked, stealing a brief, nervous glance over Kurama's shoulder.

"Why were you talking to Botan just now?" Kurama asked, holding up the communication mirror he had just recovered from Hiei's hand.

"Oh, well, Yusuke is taking a shower – at last – and he left his clothes lying out here," Hiei began. "So, um, I heard the, uh, communication device resonating with the, um, of, uh–"

"It's not like you to struggle for words or to make excuses, Hiei," Kurama said coldly.

Hiei gulped, his throat visibly moving with the effort.

"I don't think you appreciate how much that girl means to me," Kurama said quietly, his eyes on the communicator in his hand. "As my friend, as my ally, as my trusted confidant, I would hope that you would never do anything to jeopardise my intentions towards her."

"Well, she is pretty," Hiei said awkwardly. "But I don't really know that you really understand much more about her other than–"

Hiei yelped out, his cry almost a whole octave higher than seemed natural, as Kurama grabbed a handful of his shirt and slammed him back against the unforgiving metal interior wall.

"Let's make a deal, shall we?" Kurama said, his voice still eerily calm and even. "We will have our rematch after we solve the problem in spirit world. And the winner gets the girl."

Kurama lifted his eyes to Hiei on his last word, finding him looking almost distraught.

"I wouldn't fight you for most things, but I will fight you for this," Kurama added.

Hiei's mouth moved and his shook his head slightly, but no sound left his lips.

"I'm glad we understand each other," Kurama said.

He roughly released Hiei's shirt, watching him slide down the wall into an awkward sitting position, his face still twisted with horror, before walking off and leaving Hiei to digest his proposition.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Shizuru and Keiko conclude that Botan has gone insane, Yusuke takes advantage of an unconscious Hiei and the act backfires on him, Koenma tells Yusuke things might be a bit worse in spirit world than he had previously alluded to and the gang arrive in Dardani to recover the remaining clutch of ice maidens – but of course it doesn't go smoothly (wouldn't be much of a plot if it did, right?!) **Chapter 18 – Thoroughly Nefarious**


	18. Thoroughly Nefarious

**A/N:** I made a typo when I started chapter 19, and because I didn't notice, it massively altered some of Yusuke's dialogue – so basically the top elder's name is meaningless. It was Tsurara, but I accidentally typed Tsubara, and some of what's coming up depends on the "bara" part staying in there, so… Yeah…

* * *

 **Chapter 18: Thoroughly Nefarious**

"Are you okay?"

"Leave me alone."

"No, look, just be serious for a minute. There's nobody else around to hear, and I'm being really serious here: are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay!"

"Because, you know, if you want to admit to me that I was right about you turning into a girl, that's cool."

Hiei narrowed his eyes at Yusuke, who was looking away from him, pretending to be nonchalant about the whole affair.

"I'm not turning into a girl, Yusuke," Hiei said firmly. "I swear that to you. I am definitely not turning into a girl."

"Okay, but if you're not fit to fight, you should let us know," Yusuke replied. "Because if we take you out when we get to Dardani and you can't handle yourself, you'd be more of a liability than anything else."

"I don't want to be liability to anyone," Hiei said.

"I know you don't. And, you know, you can be an invincible tough guy with Kurama and Kuwabara and all the frost wenches, but just be straight with me: are you fit to come with us to Dardani?"

"I have to find Rui. Nobody knows where she is, and I can't rest until I know that she's safe."

"Right… Who's Rui?"

"She was my… She was… She… She was my mother's best friend."

"Right."

Yusuke nodded and patted Hiei on the shoulder forcefully enough to make him stumble around a little.

"Kurama maybe doesn't understand what you're thinking, and Kuwabara maybe doesn't want to understand what you're thinking, but I think I understand you," he said.

"I don't think that you do," Hiei muttered.

"I think I do," Yusuke insisted. "My mom wasn't exactly the perfect mom, and she had some pretty weird friends, but I'd still fight to defend them if I had to."

Hiei thinned his features as he met Yusuke's eyes.

"Wasn't?" he asked.

"What?" Yusuke echoed.

"Why did you use the past tense? Your mother's still alive, isn't she?"

"Probably, I dunno, I haven't seen her in a real long time."

Hiei sighed and turned his head from Yusuke.

"Look, I'm just trying to say, I know how it feels to have a dead-beat mom who didn't really want or need a son complicating her life," Yusuke said. "But she's still my mom, and if somebody was trying to sell off her sisters and friends like slaves, I'd be pretty pissed off too."

"Thank you, Yusuke."

"No, don't be sarcastic! I'm trying to be really honest with you here, and you're being a jerk!"

"No, Yusuke, I mean it. Thank you."

Hiei turned to face Yusuke again and nodded at him solemnly.

"Okay, well, cool," Yusuke muttered. "And uh, you know, I know that this isn't really any of my business either, but you should probably just step back and let Kurama have Botan. I mean, she's not really your type anyway, right?"

"Probably not."

"What?"

"No. Yes. Wait… What?"

Yusuke's eyebrows flickered back and forth between a confused frown and an amused arch.

"It's about time you finally cleaned yourself up," Hiei said sternly.

"Nice cover," Yusuke replied. "That little comment changed the topic of conversation away from how seriously messed up in the head you are right now, but that blush on your face isn't fading any time fast, which sort of makes your little swerve a wasted effort…"

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"I could cook my breakfast on your face! You're blushing, don't try to deny it, Hime!"

"Get off of me!"

Hiei slapped back Yusuke's hands as the mazoku tried to touch his face.

"Hey, you guys?" Kuwabara called over to them. "Kurama says to tell you we have to leave the tank here, where it's hidden, and go the rest of the way on foot."

"Thank you Kuwabara," Hiei said, causing Kuwabara's face to twist in surprise.

"Yeah, thanks for saving Hime from having to admit that he likes Botan!" Yusuke called over to Kuwabara.

"…I hate this mission so much…" Kuwabara grumbled, walking off and leaving Hiei and Yusuke alone again.

"Well, you heard what the boss said," Yusuke said, elbowing Hiei roughly in the ribs. "We're walking the rest of the way into the city."

"I thought you were the boss," Hiei replied. "And since we are walking, outdoors, perhaps you should put some clothes on."

"Right."

Yusuke pulled off the towel that had been loosely folded around his hips and lifted it over his head, rubbing his hair dry with it. After several seconds of vigorous shaking he lowered the towel down, hooking it around his neck, his eyes moving to the point where Hiei had been standing.

"Hiei?" he said, looking about himself. "Hiei!"

Yusuke took a step forward, intent on locating where Hiei had vanished to so quickly, his toes stubbing against a boot. He looked down to see why there was a boot on the floor, smiling in spite of himself at what he saw.

"Stop messing around, Hiei!" he said, rolling his eyes.

Hiei was lying at Yusuke's feet in a position that made it look as though he had literally collapsed on the spot, his eyes closed and his face paler than ever.

"Come on, you know you're not funny!" Yusuke added, poking at Hiei's ribs with his toes. "Hiei. Hiei! Hiei?"

When Hiei still did not stir, Yusuke squatted down by his head and tried poking at his closed eyes.

"Hey Hiei, if you don't stop this crap, I'm gonna shave off one of your eyebrows," he warned the fire demon. "And you're gonna look really, really stupid."

Yusuke flicked his fingers at Hiei's nose a few times, but still got no response, and so he stood up, turned around and headed towards the bathroom, grinning darkly at he went.

* * *

"Are you gonna answer that?" Shizuru asked, nodding at the communication mirror chirping urgently on the table.

"No, it's Lord Koenma again," Botan replied.

"He must be worried about you, Botan," Keiko said. "And we are too. If Koenma says it's not safe for you to be here, then I don't really think that you should be here."

"I can handle myself," Botan insisted.

"It's not really you we're worried about," Shizuru said, ignoring the confused look Keiko gave her. "We're worried about ourselves. If you're here and the sick demons decide to come here looking for you, who knows what damage they might do looking for you or how many humans they might kill in the process."

Botan paused, looking thoughtful for a moment.

"And we're not really sure that living here and talking to yourself is the safest thing for you to be doing right now," Keiko added.

"Or the sanest thing for you to be doing right now," Shizuru said.

"Demons don't approach this temple," Botan pointed out.

"Usually," Shizuru said. "But with no Puu and with Yusuke, Kurama and my brother gone from here, demons might feel safe to come up here."

"I have a mission to complete," Botan said.

"You do?" Keiko asked. "So Koenma did send you here?"

"No, he tried to stop me coming here, actually," Botan casually replied. "I came here to try to help the boys, but since I've arrived here, I've been following Hiei's instructions."

Keiko began looking about the room, only stopping when Shizuru tugged sharply at her sleeve and shook her head.

"Botan, I'm only gonna tell you this one more time: Hiei is not here," she said firmly.

"No, he's not," Botan replied, screwing up her face. "Obviously he's not!"

"But you said you were following his instructions?" Keiko said quietly.

"In my mind," Botan replied, tapping a finger against the side of her head.

Shizuru and Keiko exchanged concerned and cynical looks, but Botan remained oblivious to their scepticism, continuing her task of lightly shading a piece of paper with a pencil.

"Well we can see that you're busy, and we wouldn't want to distract you from your mission," Shizuru said, standing up and pushing Keiko to follow her lead.

"But we can't leave her here alone!" Keiko whispered urgently.

"See you later, Botan!" Shizuru said, steering Keiko away from the table and pushing her out of the room ahead of herself.

"Yes, I'll catch up with you girls after I finish my mission," Botan called after them, her eyes never lifting from the page she was shading.

"Why are we leaving her here?" Keiko asked as Shizuru continued pushing her towards the front door.

"Because she's clearly snapped, and she's not listening to reason," Shizuru replied.

"But what if something terrible happens to her?" Keiko said, staggering slightly as she exited the temple.

"Don't worry about that, I have a plan," Shizuru replied.

"Which is…?"

"This."

Shizuru pulled Botan's communication mirror from her pocket.

"Should you have taken that?" Keiko asked.

"Well Botan's not exactly using it, is she?" Shizuru replied, rolling her eyes. "She's not calling Yusuke or the others because she knows they would be mad at her for leaving spirit world, and she isn't taking calls from her boss, so really she doesn't need it right now."

Keiko watched Shizuru step down to the lawn and walk on without her.

"Do you even know how that thing works?" she muttered, more thinking the question out loud than asking it of Shizuru, who was already well out of earshot.

* * *

Kuwabara turned to Yusuke, who shrugged and turned to Kurama.

"I wasn't expecting this," Kurama admitted.

"Tsubara is here," Hiei said quietly. "I knew they could never contain her."

The others turned to him expectantly, but he kept his eyes forwards, watching the flashes of light and wincing appropriately at the thunderclaps resounding around them every time a blast of fire-wind met the icy tornadoes by the edge of the city.

"Who's Tsubara?" Yusuke asked.

"The supreme elder of the ice village," Hiei replied. "She's the oldest ice maiden alive, but she's also the most powerful, the most skilled and the most knowledgeable. Enki may have managed to force Tsubara and some of the other ice maidens into this area, but she won't let anyone near her. She will fight until she dies, and by then she will be no use to the sick anyway, so she still wins."

"You're a real ray of sunshine, Hime," Yusuke muttered.

"He's probably still mad that you tried to shave off his eyebrow," Kuwabara whispered.

"I didn't try to shave off his eyebrow!" Yusuke whispered back.

"You were hovering over my face with a razor in your hand and a mischievous gleam in your eye," Hiei growled.

"You just woke up at the wrong moment," Yusuke said.

"And you were still naked," Hiei added.

"Hey it's not my fault you're too stubborn to get yourself cured," Yusuke said. "Maybe if you hadn't been such a distant son of a bitch, Botan might have cured you too, and then you wouldn't be fainting for no reason!"

"I didn't faint!"

"Of course not. You just closed your eyes and fell down real fast."

"You're the leader of this team, shouldn't you be formulating a plan for how to approach the city?"

"Kurama's better at the plan formulating work than me. And besides, I haven't told Kurama and Kuwabara the best part about your little swooning episode back there."

"I didn't faint!"

"I changed my mind about shaving his eyebrow and decided that, since he was pretty well out of it, I'd shave one of his legs instead."

Hiei's face dropped, and he turned to fully face Yusuke.

"So get this: I pushed up the leg of his pants, and you'll never believe what I saw," Yusuke continued.

"I don't want to know any more," Kuwabara said.

"Hime's legs are already shaved."

Kurama and Kuwabara turned sharply to Hiei, who seemed to be frozen where he stood, his eyes unblinking and his expression set into one of near-neutrality but with a faint hint of terror evident by the edges of his features.

"You… Shave your legs?" Kuwabara asked him.

"I can prove it," Yusuke said. "Kurama, you hold his arms and I'll take off his pants–"

"No!" Hiei yelped, leaping back a step and putting out a bandaged hand to halt Yusuke's advance.

"Deny it all you want, I know what I saw," Yusuke said, smiling smugly.

"I thought only girls shaved their legs," Kuwabara muttered.

"You never shaved your legs before, Hiei," Kurama pointed out. "Yusuke, is this some sort of joke?"

"Hold his arms and I'll prove it to you," Yusuke replied.

"No, you don't have to do that!" Hiei hurriedly said, his voice suddenly high and slightly scratchy. "I can explain everything!"

"You can explain it?" Yusuke echoed. "Gees, I wish I had a camera for this little gold nugget of entertainment…"

"It's a trick," Hiei said through a sigh. "It's just a trick. I read about it in a book Botan lent me from spirit world, and I know it was wrong to try it, and I know it was even worse to lie to you all about it, but I didn't act without just motivation, and if you're willing to give me the chance to, I'd like to explain myself."

Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"Bullshit, Hime," he groaned.

"Excuse me?" Hiei echoed, his voice still soft and light.

"A book Botan lent you from spirit world?" Yusuke said. "Yeah right! More like a dumb girls' magazine Botan left lying around Genkai's place. Admit it: you read that article about how some guys shave off all their body hair because it's easier to see their muscles if there isn't any hair in the way, right?"

Hiei slowly titled his head to one side, his eyes changing shape and size.

"Wait a minute, that doesn't make any sense either…" Kuwabara said. "If Hiei read about shaving his legs in an article in a girls' magazine, how did you know about it, Urameshi? Unless you read that article too…?"

"Keiko was reading it out loud," Yusuke casually replied.

"Would that be the same girls' magazine you take to the bathroom with you every time we spend a night at Genkai's temple?" Kurama asked.

"Just for something to read when I need to take a dump!" Yusuke replied, a hint of irritation creeping into his tone.

"So you do read girls' magazines?" Kuwabara said.

"Only when… Just…" Yusuke began.

"Just to get tips on how to pluck the unsightly excess hairs from your eyebrows?" Hiei asked.

"What?" Yusuke echoed.

"Oh my God!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "I knew there was something different about your face, Urameshi!"

"I don't reshape my eyebrows," Yusuke replied.

"Yet you knew "reshape" was the correct term for it, rather than just "pluck"?" Kurama asked.

"No, it's not like that!" Yusuke said.

"Keiko does it for you because you think it hurts too much to do it yourself," Hiei added.

"Okay how the hell do you know about that?" Yusuke snapped. "Do you just sit around in trees and watch us all with your over-sized extra eye all day? Why don't you get a hobby or something, you pint-sized prick!"

Yusuke ground his teeth and clenched his fists, turning his attention back to the city below them. From their vantage point on a hillside, they were overlooking Dardani, where there was clearly an epic struggle ensuing between the residents of the city and a small group of ice maidens, who had contained themselves behind a wall of icy blizzards, making them appear as nothing more than shadows through a grey-white haze.

"They really don't look like they need rescuing," Yusuke concluded, turning back to the others.

He growled as he found them all sniggering behind their hands, apparently still amused at learning about his little secret.

"Hey!" he snapped.

"We can't leave them here," Hiei said, being the first to come to his senses. "They'll die of exhaustion, if nothing else."

"If they want to die of exhaustion, wouldn't it make more sense for them to die of exhaustion from helping people?" Yusuke pointed out.

"How would you rather die, Yusuke?" Hiei asked, his face suddenly deadly serious. "Would you rather die as an abused slave serving people who had only ever tried to bring you harm, or would you rather die fighting for the freedom of your own soul and the souls of all your friends and family?"

"Fair point," Yusuke conceded. "And I won't ever mention your leg-shaving again if you don't ever talk about my eyebrows again, deal?"

"Certainly," Hiei replied.

"Good. So what now?"

Kurama cleared his throat and nudged Kuwabara to encourage him to stop laughing.

"Since the women there seem to have themselves isolated and protected from the residents of the city, I think our best approach is to take our transport directly to them," Kurama suggested. "We would need some assistance from the women on board to coax those fighting to join us, but hopefully that won't be too much of an issue."

"What if it is an issue?" Kuwabara asked. "What if old lady Tsubara refuses to leave?"

"Then we leave her where she is," Kurama replied. "By now Enki will surely know what we have done, and since he was blindly in favour of using the ice maidens' powers at any costs, we shouldn't assume that he will show us any mercy."

"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked.

"I mean he will deploy every available resource at his disposal to hunt us down and reclaim our refugee passengers," Kurama replied. "We don't have time to waste, either here or in spirit world: it's been seven days since we first met with Koenma, and back then his best guess was that the invasion in spirit world could reach the orchard within seven days. If the SDF have been unsuccessful in stopping the spread of influence the demons have, I believe they will have already taken the orchard – and the fact that Botan is still being detained in spirit world is proof enough that the SDF have yet to vanquish the invaders entirely."

"Botan is in living world," Hiei said quietly.

"What?" Yusuke echoed.

"She called you while you were taking a shower," Hiei said, producing Yusuke's spirit world communication device from his pocket. "She's in living world."

"Damn it, gimme that!" Yusuke snapped, snatching the device from Hiei.

"Let me speak to Botan," Kurama said, starting towards Yusuke.

"I'm not calling her, I'm calling that idiot Koenma!" Yusuke replied.

"Good evening to you too, Yusuke. And to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

Yusuke looked down at the communicator, seeing Koenma's displeased face looking back at him.

"Oh I'm just calling to say thanks for the heads up!" Yusuke sarcastically answered him.

"How nice for you," Koenma replied. "And let me take this opportunity to thank you for leading one of my ferry girls astray!"

"You're welcome!"

Yusuke watched Koenma's angry, round baby face for a long time before his mind began replaying the conversation they had just shared.

"Wait, what?" he said.

"Botan escaped spirit world yesterday," Koenma replied. "Under the delusion that you needed her help. Living world is not yet a safe place for her to be, because you haven't sorted out the problem in demon world yet – you know, the problem Botan has gone to a dangerous place to try to help you fix?"

"I didn't ask Botan to do anything," Yusuke pointed out. "Maybe you should have put her on a shorter leash! And hey, the problem here in demon world is really complicated! What's the matter in spirit world? Haven't your merry men in tights fought off Fabio yet?"

"What the… Oh, you mean the SDF and the… Well, not exactly."

"Ha! I knew it!"

"We've slowed their progression, but fighting them has become more complicated."

"Hey, we offered to stay in spirit world and fight them for you, remember?"

"Yes, I know, and had I known then how things would have developed, I would have accepted your offer. We thought the weapons were the worst of our problems. Unfortunately we were wrong."

"That… Doesn't sound so good…"

"It's complicated Yusuke, but it would be a lot less complicated if I could put my ferry girls back to work, so if you could hurry along with the problem you have in demon world…"

"Yeah, we're almost done here, and we're coming to spirit world to help out as soon as we can."

"I'd appreciate that, Yusuke."

Yusuke nodded and snapped the communicator shut.

"You heard what the brat said," he told the others. "We need to end this now."

"Except, we're not ending anything," Kurama pointed out. "We're just aggravating the problem by removing the solution."

Yusuke glanced back and forth between Kurama and Hiei.

"Damn it…" he muttered.

"Let's not stand around arguing about this," Hiei said.

Yusuke nodded and all four turned and started back towards their vehicle.

"So this Tsubara chick, is she as loopy as that first weird old lady we picked up?" Yusuke asked Hiei as they walked.

"Tsubara is ruthlessly intelligent," Hiei replied. "Though the other elder you are referring to is her daughter."

"Oh great, just what we need," Yusuke moaned. "A mother and daughter double-act singing loony tunes all the way back to Arbeinia…"

"Hiei, you'll have to drive us down there," Kurama said, hoping to keep the team focused on their next task. "I'll need to talk with the ice maidens to arrange for some of them to move out onto the landing pad to greet Tsubara and her associates."

"You're a better driver than I am," Hiei replied. "You should drive. Let me talk to the ice maidens."

"I don't think that's a wise idea Hiei, they clearly trust you least of all."

"I coordinated them into rebelling against their captors at Enki's temple, I think I can talk them into this."

Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara all stopped abruptly and turned to Hiei, who simply continued past them and started up the ladder leading to the driver's door of the tank.

"Hey, uh, how did you manage to convince those ice maidens to do what you wanted them to do?" Yusuke called up to him. "I thought they were all terrified of you?"

"Maybe they started trusting him more since he started shaving his legs," Kuwabara muttered.

"Hiei, are you sure about this?" Kurama said, climbing up after his friend.

"Absolutely," Hiei said before disappearing inside the vehicle.

Yusuke shrugged and leapt up after Kurama, followed closely by Kuwabara. Once they were all inside Kuwabara closed the door securely and Kurama quickly sat down at the controls, starting up the engine and pulling out of their concealed parking space. At first the journey was as smooth as they had come to expect it to be in the enormous tanker they were now using, but as they neared the conflict, the metallic body of the tank began to creak and groan against the strain of advancing through the icy gales blasting out from the city, and the occasional bang of a large boulder bouncing off the bodywork reminded them just how powerful the storm they were approaching was.

"I sent Puu back up the hill and told him to wait until we have rescued the ice maidens before following after us," Hiei said.

"Good idea Hiei, one of those flying rocks might have killed him," Yusuke said. "Hiei… Hiei!"

Yusuke jumped around, finding Hiei standing behind him looking unreasonably calm.

"I thought you were organising the search and retrieve part of this mission?" Yusuke said.

"I asked grandma to coordinate it for me," Hiei replied.

"Was that a good idea?" Yusuke asked. "I don't think that old lady knows how to coordinate her own false teeth into her mouth, can she really be trusted to talk down a gang of angry ice maidens?"

"Tsubara is her mother," Hiei reminded him. "When Tsubara sees that her daughter is amongst our number, she will join us without question. If anyone else approached her, she would probably attack them."

"You mean if any of us approached her she would probably attack," Kuwabara said.

"No, I mean if anyone else approached her, she would probably attack," Hiei flatly replied. "At the height of her anger, Tsubara does not differentiate between friend and foe. Anyone who gets in her way is a target for her wrath."

"Nice," Yusuke muttered. "You know, you're not so unlike your people as you think, Hiei. They blast down anyone who gets in their way and you use your dragon no matter who might get gobbled up by it!"

"That's true," Hiei replied.

Yusuke frowned curiously, silently wondering why Hiei was not arguing the point with him – or at least suitably irate at being told he was just like the ice maidens – but Hiei was instead watching the chaotic scene ahead of them as they approached it, apparently unaffected by Yusuke's last remark.

Kurama was gradually pressing his foot further and further down on the accelerator, but the tank was losing speed regardless, the force of the storms ahead of them starting to overcome the power of the engine driving them towards it. He knew it was imperative to get as close as possible to make it easier for the ice maidens to board, but it was beginning to seem as though the closest he would be able to get would still be a few hundred yards away from his intended goal. He pushed until the groaning and creaking around them became constant, at which point he realised he would have to turn and reverse the remainder of the way, as it would be too risky to turn the broadside of the vehicle into the gales at any closer range.

"Hiei, is there any way you can communicate with any of them telepathically to tell them to cease their assualt?" he asked as he began to steer the vehicle around in an arc.

He had planned to turn on the spot, but the winds were so strong he did not want to risk stopping to shift gears more than once, as the vehicle was likely to be shunted back and possibly get stuck in the ground.

"Tsubara won't talk to me," Hiei replied.

"What about Rui?" Kurama suggested.

"What about Rui?" Hiei asked.

"Can't you contact her? From your earlier sense of urgency to recover her, I inferred that you had some sort of bond with her. Can't you contact her and explain to her that we are approaching to lend our assistance, but we need her and her friends to stop generating these winds to allow us to get closer to them?"

"I can't."

"Hiei, this is desperate. I don't know how close I can get."

Hiei nodded and hurried towards the back of the cabin, slid open the door and ran off out of sight.

"Yusuke, I need to ask a dangerous favour of you," Kurama said once Hiei was out of earshot.

"I volunteer Kuwabara for the job," Yusuke offered.

"Hey!" Kuwabara protested.

"It has to be you, Yusuke," Kurama replied. "I need you to climb up to the upper deck. There are a few bedrooms up there and one of them should have an exit out the back of the vehicle. I need you to go up there, open the door and check that everything goes smoothly. These winds are deadly, you can't go out just yet, but as soon as they start to subside, open the door and oversee the ice maidens boarding. Kuwabara, I need you at the front window on the upper deck and signal to Yusuke when it's safe for him to open the door, and to alert me if anything goes awry."

"What if everything goes okay?" Yusuke asked.

"Hiei should give us the signal when we are ready to leave," Kurama replied. "He knows how many women we're waiting for, he will know when to give the all-clear."

Yusuke nodded and he and Kuwabara hurried off to take their positions. With the vehicle turned fully, Kurama adjusted the side mirrors to give him the best possible view and then began trying to back up towards the plateau the ice maidens were standing atop and defending with everything they had. The vehicle creaked and groaned, the wheels slipped against the ground and the engine whined in complaint, but the large tank began to slowly creep backwards. It was a gamble regardless: going too close too soon meant risking a sudden blast of wind flipping the tank over, but not getting close enough soon enough meant the ice maidens would have to stop their assault prematurely and they would be vulnerable as they boarded.

And Kurama was still not really sure that he agreed with what he was doing. He wondered if Hiei even appreciated the risks his friends were taking to save his people: there was a very realistic chance that they could all be tried for treason for defying a law passed by demon world's ruler, not to mention the fact that countless sick would die, the ice maidens – if caught – would be treated even worse than they had been the first time around, and all the while spirit world was descending further into chaos because of the time they were wasting preventing the virus from being suitably contained. Kurama was not even sure he understood why Hiei cared so much. Although he knew that Hiei perhaps secretly cared about the ice maidens more than he would ever dare admit to, Kurama had never suspected that Hiei would care more about the ice maidens than he did about himself, Yusuke or Kurama.

Kurama wanted to know why Hiei was fighting so determinedly for his people who had rejected him so callously, but he already knew that he would never be able to ask his friend about it – Hiei had never been the type to discuss his feelings, or even to admit to having any feelings in the first place.

And, just as frustratingly, Kurama was beginning to suspect that there was something going on between Hiei and Botan. He had no real proof for his suspicions, but catching Hiei secretly talking to her earlier had done little to ease his concerns. He had never expected to find himself pursuing the same lover as Hiei, and he decided that, once their work in demon world was done, he would make his feelings known to Hiei during their journey to spirit world.

A particularly loud groan ran the length of the vehicle and Kurama realised that, although he might be able to edge a little further back, trying to do so would be far too dangerous. He waited, holding his foot down slightly to keep the vehicle in place against the wind that was trying to push it away again, and, much to his relief, he did not stay that way long, the creaking and straining of metal around him fading and the vehicle starting to slowly edge back again despite no extra effort on his part: Hiei must have managed to reach Rui.

As the winds died down further Kurama flattened the pedal to the floor, racing back towards the plateau. In one mirror he saw Puu flying towards his destination, which came as a relief, as it saved him having to attempt to park flat against the raised ground the ice maidens were holding. He stopped as close to his goal as he could get and watched in the mirrors as Puu swooped down towards the group of women gathered there, flinching involuntarily when one of them held up a hand and something invisible punched Puu in the chest, his wings, legs and long neck flailing about aimlessly before he fell from the sky.

Puu landed out of Kurama's line of sight, but he could see that the ice maidens did not need the bird's help, managing to somehow leap onto the back of the tank themselves. There were more women than Kurama had expected there to be, but he supposed that, by the simple fact that they had held off their captors for several days and with tremendous force, it only made sense that there would be a large group of them. Puu eventually rose up again flying up out of Kurama's line of sight, a thud above his head shortly afterwards telling Kurama that the spirit beast had wisely chosen to avoid landing on the landing bay where the ice maidens were still boarding. Kurama counted seventeen bodies leaping onto the vehicle before he heard Hiei and Kuwabara shouting at him to go, and he did not hesitate to take off, silently surprised that their escape had been so simple.

"I think that's everyone," Hiei said as he returned to the cabin.

"Good, because we don't have time to hunt down any stragglers," Kurama flatly replied.

"It's wonderful, I thought we would never manage to find everyone again!" Hiei gushed, a little too enthusiastically for Kurama's liking.

"Hey, Kurama!" Kuwabara bellowed as he came thundering into the cabin. "You need to go faster!"

"I'm going as fast as I can, Kuwabara," Kurama patiently replied.

"Hey! Fox boy! Put your foot down!" Yusuke yelled from somewhere back in the bowels of the tank.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Kurama repeated.

"This isn't a Sunday drive, granddad!" Yusuke said as he tore into the cabin. "We've got company!"

Kurama glanced at one side mirror, expecting to see some angry demons rising up over the plateau and running after them, and, because his glance at the mirror was so brief, at first he did not even see what Yusuke had been referring to.

"I thought it would have been much worse than that," he concluded. "Relax, they may be moving fast now, but they can't keep up with us over a long distance."

"Guess again," Yusuke said flatly, tapping a finger at the side window between them and the mirror.

Kurama looked again and felt his entire body tense in a way it had not done since facing Shigure in the demon world tournament: there was an entire fleet of armed military motorcycles chasing after them, and most of them were adorned with missile launchers on either side of the riders' legs.

"Can they hurt us?" Kuwabara asked. "This tank is pretty bulletproof and rocket-proof, right?"

"Is everyone inside?" Kurama asked. "If there are any ice maidens still out there, they are as good as dead."

"Puu's still out there," Hiei pointed out.

"Puu can fly, he can evade and hide from any attacks launched in his direction," Kurama replied. "We have more need to worry about ourselves."

"What if the ice maidens made a barrier around us?" Kuwabara asked.

"That's unlikely to stop weapons like those," Kurama replied.

"Can anything stop weapons like those?" Yusuke asked.

"Not really," Kurama answered. "The biggest problem is that there are weak spots on the vehicle, and if any one is hit, we risk being forced to stop and evacuate. And we wouldn't stand a chance on foot."

"We could fly away with Puu," Yusuke suggested.

"And leave all the ice maidens behind?" Kuwabara asked.

"Oh yeah, right, good point," Yusuke said.

"Isn't there like a super-powered shield on this thing?" Kuwabara asked Kurama

"Don't be stupid, Kuwabara!" Yusuke snapped.

"He's right, we do have the option of activating full-body shielding," Kurama said.

"Then do it!" Yusuke demanded.

"I can give you two good reasons why I shouldn't," Kurama replied. "First of all, they are not guaranteed to protect us indefinitely from attack, they would wear down under a constant bombardment, and secondly activating them drains power and will slow us down. We have a much better chance of escaping if we can keep moving. If we have to stop for any reason, we may have to make a very difficult decision."

"I'm not leaving anyone behind," Hiei said.

"Nobody's getting left behind!" Yusuke said. "And we're not stopping. I could probably take most of them out from the top deck."

Yusuke held up his right index finger and started to walk away, only stopping when Kurama called after him.

"Those are bombs," Kurama reminded him. "You risk detonating them, and the combined explosion would either incinerate us, launch us into the air, or create a crater we could fall into – and this vehicle is too big and too heavy to climb out of a hole."

"And you can't make this thing go any faster?" Kuwabara asked.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Kurama firmly replied.

Yusuke and Kuwabara moved to either side of the cabin, each watching in one of the side mirrors as the demons on bikes drew closer.

"I wonder why they weren't firing rockets at the ice maidens?" Kuwabara mused.

"They wouldn't have been able to get close for the winds, and those weapons lose a lot of their power over distance," Kurama replied.

"Incoming!" Yusuke warned.

He quickly grabbed at a bar on the side wall of the cabin to steady himself in anticipation of the impact, Kuwabara and Hiei following his lead. An instant later a slight rumble passed along one side of the vehicle, accompanied by a muted bang.

"That wasn't so bad," Kuwabara said.

"That's because they missed," Yusuke said.

Another bang resounded to one side of them, dirt spraying up above the height of their vehicle, a few small stones clinking against the roof above their heads.

"Their aim sucks!" Yusuke concluded.

"They're not firing to kill," Kurama pointed out. "Our passengers are no use to them dead. They're trying to disable us. Their goal is to force us to stop, reclaim our passengers and then blow up the vehicle with us still inside it."

Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei exchanged worried looks before all almost staggering into each other as another bang sounded, this time emanating from beneath the back of the vehicle, the detonation making the whole vehicle shudder and sway slightly. Once Kurama had managed to stabilise them, a sickening squeaking and grinding noise began from the point near the back of the vehicle where the detonation had occurred.

"What's that?" Kuwabara asked.

"That would be the rear wheel axle," Kurama replied.

"That sounds bad," Yusuke said.

"It is," Kurama said, his voice calmer than seemed appropriate. "This vehicle is controlled by rear wheel steering. Even the slightest dent or deviation back there hinders steering."

Another bang sounded at the back by one side of the vehicle, narrowly missing direct contact.

"They're trying to disable the steering, the bastards know!" Yusuke complained.

He threw open the side window and stuck his head outside, looking back at the swarm of motorcycles behind them. They seemed to be moving in a strange pattern, some lining up across the width of the back of the vehicle and others moving out the way to come up along the side of the vehicle. Although he could not see the other side of the vehicle, Yusuke already knew that their pursuers were trying to flank them and box them in. He leaned further out of the window, squinting against the glare of the fires still burning in the city behind them, his eyes trying to pick out an unarmed motorcycle. He was planning to shoot out any unarmed riders, in the hope of scattering or deterring the others, but they had shifted their formation to conceal the riders who had already fired their weapons – apparently this were no ordinary motorcycle gang, he thought dryly.

And, for a brief and horrible moment, the idea occurred to Yusuke that their pursuers were in fact disciplined military officers, sent there by Enki to recover the ice maidens at all costs.

Before the thought could really develop either way in Yusuke's mind, he suddenly felt something pulling at his shirt, dragging him back inside. He started to argue that he was fine but his words were shortly drowned out by an almighty explosion at the opposite side of the driver's cabin that rocked the whole vehicle. The force of the impact threw Yusuke further out the window, his weight hanging in the balance, the sight of a yellow-toothed, grinning biker waiting expectantly below him making him curse: but, by luck, he managed to throw his weight back inside, falling back against something that moaned in complaint.

"Thanks Hiei," he said as he stood up.

He reached down and grabbed Hiei's shirt, dragging him up to his feet again. He looked a little deflated, but Yusuke did not have time to mock him for it, as he noticed the way Kuwabara was staring, transfixed, at the opposite side window of the cabin. The missile had hit the vehicle just above the side window, a slight curve in the roof above them showing where it had detonated and warped the bodywork, and apparently the force of the explosion had travelled down slightly, leaving a hairline crack in the window by Kuwabara. The crack was slowly growing in length and other, smaller cracks were branching off of the main split.

"Get away from the window!" Yusuke shouted at Kuwabara.

Kuwabara turned from the window an instant before the glass collapsed behind him, most of it flying inwards in lethal shards. Yusuke quickly shut the window he had been leaning out of to stop the flow-through of air having two open windows had been causing, before crossing the cabin and peering cautiously out of the jagged remains of the other side window. When he saw a scraggly, long-limbed demon hanging onto the ladder leading up to the driver's door brandishing an axe, Yusuke acted on instinct and took aim to shoot him off. In one smooth sequence, the demon chopped his axe into the side of the vehicle and Yusuke shot him in the head, sending him tumbling to the ground. Despite the fact that the demon became caught under the wheels of the tank, he looked worryingly pleased with himself, and Yusuke soon saw why: the axe, still embedded in the side of the vehicle, had punctured something, a viscous green liquid dripping down the sides of the blade.

"Uh, the green stuff that's kept in the side of the tank," Yusuke began, turning to face the others. "What do we need it for, exactly?"

"We need it to live," Hiei flatly replied, touching a bandaged finger to a large dial in front of Kurama.

Yusuke and Kuwabara leaned closer to the console, watching as the needle on the dial began to slowly move to the left, towards a red bar that ended with a symbol for empty.

"Not the fuel tank," Yusuke said, looking around the others in the hope that one of them would agree with him.

"Why did you shoot at the fuel tank?" Kuwabara cried. "You could have blown us all up!"

"It wasn't the fuel tank," Yusuke insisted. "Right Kurama?"

"Wrong Yusuke, it was the fuel tank," Kurama replied. "Did you shoot a hole in it?"

"No, there's an axe stuck in it!" Yusuke said. "I'll climb down and pull it out."

"No!" Hiei said, grabbing at Yusuke's shirt to stop him. "It you pull out the blade, the hole you leave behind will be bigger and the fuel will leak out faster! The axe has to stay in place because right now it will be acting like a plug!"

"Right…" Yusuke said, his eyes moving back to the shifting dial. "So we switch to auxiliary power now, right?"

"We can try," Kurama said.

"We actually have auxiliary power?" Yusuke asked, glancing back and forth between Kurama and Hiei in surprise.

"Yes, we can run the vehicle on the battery alone," Kurama replied. "But the battery needs daylight to generate enough power to keep us moving."

All four looked out the front windscreen at the horizon ahead of them and the ball of light hanging ominously low in the sky.

"It will be dark within the hour," Kurama added. "If we can't out-run them in that time, we will have to get out and fight them as best we can – which is not as reasonable an option as it sounds, as we have no way of stopping that number of bodies from infiltrating the vehicle once it stops. If we were on our own, we probably could fend them off, but keeping them away from the ice maidens will be virtually impossible."

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Has lots of drama! Running low on fuel, things don't look too good for the team, but help comes from an unexpected source to even the odds. George makes a discovery in spirit world, Botan takes a desperate step in her bid to follow Hiei's instructions, Hiei has a very difficult confrontation with Kurama and a very emotional confrontation with Mizore, but it's Yusuke to the rescue with the best idea evar™…. **Chapter 19 – Turpentine Nocturnal**


	19. Turpentine Nocturnal

**Chapter 19: Turpentine Nocturnal**

The attacks had stopped, and it was debatable whether that was a bad thing or not. Without the constant bangs of exploding missiles, the migraine-inducing whining of the cracked rear wheel axle was painfully audible and, with one side window blown out, the sounds of both the motorcycle engines and the glugging sound of the fuel gradually seeping out of the fuel tank were becoming increasingly predominant. Kuwabara had moved to the back corner of the cabin furthest from the broken window, Yusuke was loitering by the broken window, watching the scene behind them in the wing mirror and occasionally daring to stick his head out the window for a better look and Hiei was standing at one side of the driver's chair, clutching to the padded leather back support. Kurama was trying to keep his eyes on the road ahead, but, even when he did manage to stop himself from glancing at the fuel dial for any length of time, he could still see the evidence of their worsening situation on the edge of his vision and ahead of him he could see the sun sinking lower and lower in the sky, which was just as foreboding a sight as the already past halfway fuel gauge.

Kurama glanced in each of the wing mirrors in turn: their pursuers had fallen back a little, but they were still keeping pace with them. After Yusuke had shot a couple of demons who had been brave enough to attempt to board the vehicle and Kurama had swerved to run over any who dared ride too close, the remainder of the group had fallen back, and they were now just biding their time. The fuel leaking from the tank not only had a pungent odour obvious to even the least sensitive of noses, but it was so thick it did not immediately soak into the ground, meaning that, as they moved ahead, they were leaving a very blatant, glistening green line behind that traced their route even more obviously than the tracks the large, ridged wheels were biting into the ground. Kurama had already resigned himself to the fact that they were eventually going to be forced to leave the vehicle and get into a hands-on fight with their pursuers, but he was hoping to cover as much distance as possible before that outcome came to pass, if only to increase their chances of shipping some of the ice maidens back to Arbeinia via Puu – which was starting to seem as though it was their last remaining option for saving the ice maidens from total extinction.

"Do you have a plan?" Hiei asked, his voice strangely light and barely audible. "You always have a plan don't you Kurama?"

"I'm considering our options," Kurama replied.

He felt one edge of the back-rest curl away from him as Hiei gripped his fingers deeper into the leather.

"Will they kill us?"

Kurama shifted his focus from the road ahead to the translucent reflection of Hiei in the windscreen in front of him. Worryingly, he found Hiei looking every bit as apprehensive and unfocused as he had sounded.

"They'll try to kill us as quickly as they can," Kurama told Hiei's wide-eyed reflection. "We are of no interest or use to them, they will want to dispose of us swiftly so that they can have free access to our passengers."

"What will we do?" Hiei asked.

"We'll try to hold them off," Kurama replied. "We have no other choice."

"We won't run away and leave the ice maidens behind?"

"Why would we do that?"

"I don't know. I just thought that might be your plan after what you said before about making a difficult decision after Yusuke said we should fly away on Puu."

Kurama stared at Hiei's reflection as long as he felt he could before returning his attention to the road ahead. Hiei really was quite exposed and raw lately with his emotions, and it was difficult even for Kurama to imagine how he was feeling about being in such a situation with the family who had thrown him out so long ago. Kurama had always known that Hiei was harbouring some sort of inner conflict about how he truly felt about his people, but he had never expected it to manifest itself so prominently. Hiei had always managed to keep his emotions in check – or at the very least, turn them to pure rage, as he had done when Sensui had killed Yusuke – but suddenly he seemed to have lost his ability to mask his feelings, and Kurama again found himself thinking that Hiei seemed vulnerable and exposed.

"I don't feel as strongly as you do that the ice maidens should simply be returned home," he said carefully. "And because of that, I also don't feel that Kuwabara or Yusuke should be made to endanger their lives for the cause. If the odds look insurmountable, I would advise that the four of us escape on Puu, yes."

"What if those men stopped chasing us before we ran out of fuel?" Hiei asked. "Would we be safe then? How would we continue our journey?"

"If we could somehow out-run those bikes, we could continue until the vehicle stops completely, whereupon we could take turns watching guard until daybreak, at which time the battery would function again and we could continue on to Arbeinia," Kurama replied. "However, if we are facing this level of opposition here and now, we are unlikely to manage to pass through Arbeina and return the entire population of the ice village to their homes unhindered."

"But we could protect the ice maidens and return them to their village if those bikes stop?"

"Of course. That was always our plan, wasn't it?"

"Okay."

Kurama watched, stupefied as Hiei's reflection moved away behind him.

"Where are you going?" he asked, daring to glance back over one shoulder long enough to see Hiei run from the cabin altogether.

"What's his problem?" Kuwabara muttered, jerking a thumb in Hiei's direction.

"Go after him, Kuwabara," Kurama replied, returning his attention to the road. "I think he might be about to attempt something reckless involving the Dragon of the Darkness Flame."

"Shooting those guys was my idea!" Yusuke complained.

"Shooting them risks detonating their missiles, but banishing them into the darkness eliminates both the soul and the weapon in one easy step," Kurama pointed out.

"So why don't we just let Hiei do that then?" Kuwabara asked, loitering by the doorway hesitantly.

"Because he's not strong enough to launch or control the dragon right now," Kurama said. "If he tries to do either, he will likely kill himself, which will unleash the dragon unrestrained, and it could turn on us all."

"Fair point," Kuwabara said before hurrying off after Hiei.

Kurama watched Kuwabara's reflection disappear out of sight before turning his attention to Yusuke, who was already watching him in the windscreen.

"What are we really gonna do when we have to stop?" Yusuke asked him as their eyes met.

"Fight for as long as we can," Kurama replied.

"Those witches aren't even grateful for our help, you know," Yusuke pointed out.

"I don't think that factors into this," Kurama said. "Whether or not they approve of us, our methods or our interference is irrelevant: we're not doing this to win their affection, we're doing this because it's the right thing to do."

"I thought you said leaving them behind to cure the sick was the right thing to do?"

"Alright, we're doing this because Hiei thinks it's the right thing to do, and, as his friends, we're supporting his decision, rather than leave him to attempt to tackle this problem on his own and doubtlessly get himself killed."

"I guess it's the same old story for us. Nobody was grateful when we saved the earth from Sensui's demon tunnel either."

Kurama forced a smile for Yusuke's benefit before both looked down at the fuel gauge in time to see the needle glide into the red part of the dial. Kurama looked up and saw that the sun was almost touching the horizon, and nightfall would be upon them within minutes of the fuel drying up. He looked at Yusuke's reflection, preparing himself to issue one last warning to his friend about how they should proceed when the inevitable did eventually occur, but he found Yusuke with his head and most of his upper body stuck out of the missing window, something he had not done for a prolonged period of time since nearly falling out of the opposite window earlier. Kurama moved his eyes to the wing mirror by Yusuke to see what had caught the mazoku's attention, almost losing control of the vehicle in shock at what he saw.

* * *

Botan dropped onto the couch with a sigh of frustration. She had been searching high and low, but she could not find any trace of her communicator, and she had a very desperate need for it. Since leaving spirit world and returning to living world, Hiei had been trying to tell her something telepathically – and it had been a long time since he had last invaded her thoughts so persistently – but he had gone quiet during the last few hours, and she had reached a dead-end with her investigation. She had been hoping to call him on her communicator again to ask him what she should do next, but apparently, when she had abandoned the device somewhere after growing weary of hearing it constantly ringing with a call from her boss that she had no intention of answering, she had done too good a job or hiding it or else simply forgetting where it was, because, now that she did need to use it, it was nowhere to be found.

She held up the notepad she had been scribbling on, running her eyes over the symbols there one more time and feeling as confused by them as she had the first time around. Hiei's messages were garbled and unclear – and occasionally completely irrelevant and nonsensical, like the one image he had conveyed to her of Yusuke ruffling Yukina's hair and then sniffing his fingers – but there were a few points Hiei had been consistently repeating: Yukina was in trouble, and the only way to help her involved deciphering a series of ancient characters that Botan could not read, and somehow connecting them back to the mixing bowls Hiei had indicated would be in the old tree by the temple steps. Although Botan could not read the characters, she did know that they were part of an ancient language, and that a translation guide for the language had a home in the spirit world library – and, if Hiei did not contact her again soon, she realised that she may be forced to return to spirit world to find the book in question.

Botan did not even know what the strange letters had to do with Yukina's dilemma – or in fact what Yukina's dilemma even was. Hiei had been a little vague on exactly what sort of peril Yukina was in, and most of his anger about it seemed to be centred around frustration, so perhaps he himself did not really know what Yukina's problem was. Botan wanted to ask him where Yukina was and why she could not just go there and get her, but his telepathy only worked as a two-way means of communication if he let it, and usually he denied it, and without her communicator, she was unable to call him to ask her questions outright.

Botan stood up again and started towards the bedroom she usually stayed in when she spent a night at Genkai's temple; since Hiei was beyond her reach, she was going to have to choose an appropriate disguise so that she could enter spirit world undercover.

* * *

"We never thought of that," Yusuke said. "Spirit gun shots are no good because they could ignite the rockets, but blades of ice don't have that problem."

"I can't believe they're offensively attacking!" Kurama said, watching in awe in the wing mirror by Yusuke as the bikers chasing them fell one by one. "And that they're working together so cohesively!"

"I guess Hiei knows how to put the fire up their asses," Yusuke said, smirking to himself at his rather unimaginative pun.

"Perhaps we misjudged them after all," Kurama said, ignoring Yusuke's interlude entirely. "Perhaps they do feel strongly enough about some things to actively fight for them. Perhaps their love of their own families has been enough to motivate them to retaliate. Perhaps they even want to help us now because they can see that we are helping them."

"I wouldn't go that far…" Yusuke muttered.

The vehicle lurched and chugged momentarily as the fuel tank was drained of the last drop of fuel and there was a brief lag before the auxiliary system fully took over powering the engine, but Kurama barely noticed, his attention still mostly on the images the two wing mirrors were reflecting in towards him: unbelievably, a gathering of around twenty ice maidens had stepped out onto the landing deck at the back of the vehicle and they were aiming blasts of wintery air and lethally sharp shards of ice at their pursuers, gradually picking off each rider. In mere minutes they had halved the number of armed motorcycles still following, and those that had yet to be knocked down had fallen back considerably, a few of them trying desperate tactics to avoid being hit and inadvertently crashing into each other.

The only thing more amazing than seeing the ice maidens actually fight back effectively and helpfully was the idea that Hiei had inspired them to do so.

"I don't see any kids out there," Yusuke said.

"No, it would be too dangerous for them," Kurama replied.

"But there are a lot of women out there," Yusuke pointed out. "And we know there are at least six kids. How many of those ice chicks do we have with us now?"

Kurama tried to count through the number of ice maidens he could recall rescuing: there had been six in Arbeinia, eight in Illyria, seventeen in Daldani and at least twenty-five at Enki's temple.

"More than fifty, I think," he concluded.

"Fifty?" Yusuke echoed.

"Fifty-six, to be precise," Kurama replied. "Unless Hiei managed to flush any more out of Enki's temple than those we saw in his gardens."

"Fifty-six?"

"That's including all the children."

"Holy crap, how the hell can we fit them all in here?"

"This is a big vehicle Yusuke, and they seem to want to keep to themselves, I don't imagine spending one more night with them will be an issue."

Kurama heard Yusuke make a strange noise that was somewhere between a whimper and a groan, before he stomped across the cabin to stand beside the driver's chair.

"What was that last part?" he asked.

"They keep themselves to themselves," Kurama replied, glancing up at Yusuke, who was standing almost unreasonably close to him. "It is their way, and in this case, that's definitely a bonus. It would be incredibly difficult for all concerned if they decided that they wanted to… Mingle with us…"

"No, not the part about how they're a bunch of stuck-up, anti-social bitches, I meant the part where you said we have to spend the night with them," Yusuke said.

"Well yes, we will have to spend another night with them," Kurama replied. "The sun is setting and we've already switched to auxiliary power. In about half an hour, this vehicle will stop functioning, and we will be forced to wait until the sun rises again before we can continue our journey."

"But it's already freezing in here," Kuwabara complained from the back corner of the cabin. "Those women make the air really cold, and it's even worse now there's so many of them. We'll die of the cold if we stay with them overnight!"

"We can just stay up here and put on the heater like we did before," Yusuke told him.

"I thought Kurama said the battery stopped working when the sun went down?" Kuwabara responded.

"It's always worked in the dark before," Yusuke said.

"We always had fuel in the dark before," Kurama said solemnly. "This time we will have neither fuel nor battery. Kuwabara is right, I'm afraid: we won't be able to use the heater until sunrise."

Yusuke cursed and kicked the base of the chair. He moved back over to the window and stuck his head out, surveying the scene behind them. Kurama checked each of the mirrors and saw that there were only six motorbikes still giving chase, and they had fallen so far behind, they were starting to fade out of sight through the swirling winds of ice crystals billowing freely from the landing deck at the back of the tank. They would soon be free of capture, but, as he turned his attention to the front window, Kurama worried that it might not be soon enough. They needed to disappear from sight of anyone and the ice maidens needed to stop generating so much energy, because at the moment, they were an obvious target. They needed to be inconspicuous as they took advantage of the last remaining minutes of daylight to get as far away from Dardani as they possibly could. If they remained conspicuous for much longer, it would be easy for anyone who had been tracking their movements to figure out where they were travelling to, and arrange a blockade ahead of them.

Smuggling six ice maidens had been difficult, though still relatively achievable, but smuggling the entire race was another matter entirely – not to mention the pandemonium likely to have broken loose across the infected cities as the news of the ice maidens' disappearance reached the truly desperate. Realistically, Kurama thought, Enki would be well within his rights to order their arrest and execution for what they had done – he only hoped that Enki's fondness for Yusuke and his generally benevolent nature would spare them such a fate.

As the last of the bikers following them vanished from sight, the ice maidens finally did ease off their attack, opting to gradually lessen the storm they had been creating rather than stop abruptly, probably because they wanted to be absolutely sure that none of their pursuers would take advantage of a sudden lull in activity and strike a counter-attack. Although the wing mirrors did not allow Kurama a full view of the landing deck, he could see the women starting to filter back inside, and so he turned his attention fully to the road ahead and the setting sun.

Kurama managed to continue along the road for another ten minutes before the bulk of the sun had dropped below the horizon and, despite him pressing harder at the accelerator pedal, the vehicle began to slow, the additional systems inside the vehicle letting out a collective, descending whine as they all began to power down. Kuwabara began unfolding the remaining blankets he had gathered from the supplies closet and Yusuke started attaching lengths of bandages over the broken window, sticking them into place with medical tape in the vain hope of containing what little heat there was inside the vehicle.

"Shouldn't we be saving the medical supplies?" Kuwabara asked him.

"We've got a whole damn army of nurses on board, if one of us gets hurt, surely at least one of them would help us out," Yusuke flatly replied.

Kuwabara muttered a sceptical response but Yusuke ignored him. The vehicle continued the slow until finally the engine began to falter. Kurama steered off of the road and into the vegetation, pulling up alongside a craggy rock formation as the engine died completely. The vehicle continued moving, momentum carrying it on a little further, before it eventually came to rest, the side with the broken window neatly alongside the rocks.

"So what now?" Kuwabara asked.

"We should move to the upper deck," Kurama suggested. "It's probably warmest there, and we can take it in turns to move outside and watch guard."

"Puu's back," Hiei said as he rejoined them in the cabin.

Kurama paused, his eyes wandering over Hiei curiously. He was slightly out of breath, his face was slightly flushed and his entire body was glistening with tiny ice crystals.

"Were you out there with the ice maidens during their assault?" Kurama asked.

Hiei looked momentarily guilty before shaking his head and shrugging.

"I was just making sure they didn't fall off or mess it up," he said. "Huh, you know how weak they are, right?"

Kurama nodded slowly, though he was less than convinced by Hiei's obvious lie. Apparently Hiei's concern for his people was only growing stronger, but he was risking humiliation.

"You're being incredibly naïve and myopic, Hiei," Kurama said, no longer caring for tact in light of Hiei's recent secret conversation with Botan. "They rejected you for a reason, don't think that you can win your way back into their good graces now with a few petty displays of power and bravado."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Hiei quietly replied.

"I'm trying to save you your dignity," Kurama said. "I remember a time when you valued it."

"I haven't done anything undignified," Hiei said, his voice still oddly hushed. "I have no regrets."

"You're not as mature as you would like to think that you are. A very childish part of you still thinks that making peace with those women will bring you peace within your own soul. You're wrong. You're wasting your time. If you thought you were disappointed with what you saw when you returned to the ice village, expect to feel that disappointment tenfold if you insist on trying to make amends with those women here and now."

"You don't know what I felt when I returned to the ice village. No-one does. And you don't know what I'm feeling now."

"I'm trying to warn you. As a friend."

"Your tone isn't very friendly."

"Okay, stop," Yusuke said, stepping between Hiei and Kurama. "Seriously guys, this is a moot point. Tomorrow morning, those women go back to their floating rock of misery and we'll never see any of them again, so what they've done and said in the past few days is meaningless, right?"

"If he continues to show weakness like this, they will exploit and abuse it," Kurama said.

"Come on Kurama, he can't help it," Yusuke replied, turning his back on Hiei to face Kurama directly. "Just back off. We're all tired and hungry and pissed off, but let's not fight with each other. And besides, I think you're maybe just looking for an excuse to goad him into a fight because he was talking to Botan earlier."

"I'm not that petty, Yusuke," Kurama answered him.

"I'm not in love with Botan," Hiei said, side-stepping past Yusuke to bring Kurama back into his line of sight. "I don't want her, and if you really do care for her – which, I can see now that you do – then you can have her."

Kurama narrowed his eyes, putting a hand on Yusuke's chest and gently pushing him aside to clear the space between himself and Hiei.

"This isn't a trivial matter," he said.

"I never said that it was," Hiei replied. "And I swear to you, I don't want Botan as a lover."

"I understand."

"Do you?"

"Yes. You don't want her, but you don't want me to have her either."

Hiei's face twitched slightly, but otherwise he did not respond.

"Your silence speaks volumes," Kurama said.

"Okay, let's wrap this up guys," Yusuke interrupted. "We need to get food and we need to do a sweep to make sure nobody snuck onboard or is still hiding outside waiting for us somewhere."

"I've seen Botan show her interest in you, but you've never expressed the slightest hint of interest in her," Kurama said, pushing Yusuke back again. "In fact, you've been dismissive of her. Why is that?"

"I told you already, I don't want Botan," Hiei insisted.

"Then why do you protest to my liking her?" Kurama asked.

"I can't tell you that just yet."

"Can't or won't?"

"Both."

Kurama was unsure if he understood the situation any better than he had before. Hiei looked like he was warring with his emotions, but he seemed to genuinely mean it when he said he had no interest in keeping Botan for himself. And clearly he was hiding something, and it was unclear if he would ever reveal what it was.

"Excuse me?"

Hiei turned around and stepped back as Mizore stepped into the cabin, looking slightly sterner than usual.

"Why have we stopped here?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"We can't continue until daybreak," Kurama answered her. "Our fuel was drained during the battle to escape Dardani, and the auxiliary power system only operates during daylight hours. We will depart again as soon as the sun rises."

"It seems dangerous to linger here," she said.

"It is dangerous," Yusuke said. "But it looked like you could handle yourself back there, so I don't think there's a problem."

"I did what I had to back there," Mizore said. "And now there is something else I must do. Lady Tsubara is aware of your presence here, and she has asked me to convey a message to you."

Hiei touched a hand to his chest, visibly surprised that she was referring to him. When she nodded he stepped forwards from the others, looking up at her expectantly.

"Lady Tsubara wants you to know that you are not welcome to return to our village with us, and that she tolerates your presence on this transporter under much duress," Mizore said.

"Tell her the tissues are in the little girls' room!" Yusuke snorted.

"Regardless of how humbled your leader feels to be accepting assistance from one she ousted from her own clan, she is, nonetheless, at our mercy," Kurama added. "Thank her kindly to keep any future revelations she may have to herself from now on."

"I haven't finished," Mizore said tightly. "Lady Tsubara also asked me to tell you this."

Hiei frowned. He started to ask her what the second part of her message was, his words breaking in a cry of alarm as she backhanded him across the face. He stumbled back a step, keeping his head turned, touching shaking fingers to the point of impact.

"Miss Kurama," Mizore said, turning her attention to Kurama. "I appreciate what you and your two associates have done for myself, my family and my people. Please don't take this creature as an example of what the ice maidens are. Contrary to what this miserable wretch would have you believe, we are not a race of dirty, lying, treacherous monsters."

She turned and made to leave but Kurama pounced forwards, grabbing her arm to stall her exit. She stopped, looking down at his hand on her arm before slowly lifting her eyes to his.

"I don't think you are in a position to accuse anyone of being treacherous," he told her in a low voice. "And if this "monster" is to be the only ambassador of your race outside of your cloistered village then you should consider yourself lucky, because the image being portrayed of your people is one of loyalty, determination and honour."

"Unhand me," she said, tugging her arm from his grasp.

"You are the ones who should be hanging your heads in shame," Kurama said. "You've turned your back on the sick in this world – in exactly the same way you turn your backs on helpless infants you cast from your village without a care."

"Yeah, take that back to Lady Subaru, bitch!" Yusuke added.

Mizore gave a small growl and marched briskly away, exuding a draft of bitterly cold air behind her as she went.

"She's scary," Kuwabara whispered.

"This is exactly what I feared would happen," Kurama said. "This is what I was trying to warn you about all along."

He turned to Hiei, who had his head down, his hand still pressed against the side of his face where Mizore had hit him.

"I have a great way to fix all our problems right now," Yusuke said, clapping his hands together.

"Does it involve all those weird things we found in that room on the top deck?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes!" Yusuke said, looking far too cheerful.

"I'm out," Kuwabara said.

"No, not those things!" Yusuke said, shaking his head. "Not all those weird things we found under the bed, the things we found in the closet!"

Kurama glanced back and forth between Yusuke and Kuwabara, the cunning grin on Yusuke's face contrasting a little too drastically with the sickened fear draining the colour from Kuwabara's face.

"We should do as you said earlier," Kurama said, hoping to maintain some degree of order. "We should check outside for food and any spies that may have managed to track us."

"This thing must be Enki and Kokou's personal limo," Yusuke said, ignoring Kurama entirely. "Because when we were up on the top deck earlier, me and Kuwabara found their honeymoon suite. It has more rubber than a Pirelli factory, but it has something you won't find anywhere else in demon world. Follow me, men."

"I'd rather not," Kuwabara said. "I'm still repressing my memories of the first time round."

"Get up the ladder and stop being such a pussy!" Yusuke snapped.

Hiei suddenly moved forwards, striding rapidly across the cabin and through the door beyond. Yusuke hurried after him, grabbing his shoulders as he tried to continue past the ladder and dragging him back. Hiei kept his head down, keeping his face out of sight, but he allowed Yusuke to steer him towards the ladder, and he made the effort to ascend it ahead of the mazoku.

"What's really up there?" Kurama asked Kuwabara as they approached the base of the ladder together.

"Lots of terrible things that might be used for sex or torture or maybe both," Kuwabara replied. "And something called poitin."

Kurama leapt at the ladder, hurriedly scaling it. He heard Kuwabara following him, but he was more concerned with catching Yusuke and stopping him. He reached the top of the ladder in time to see Yusuke pushing Hiei through a doorway, and by the time he had cleared the upper floor and dived through the door himself, Kurama found Yusuke standing in front of a cluttered wardrobe filled with dubious clothing, frightening footwear and an entire shelf of poitin.

"This is Kokou's secret stash!" Yusuke said to Hiei, waving a hand at the array of bottles packed onto the shelf. "And they're all full and sealed!"

He grabbed one from the shelf and worked off the cork, taking a small sip of the contents. There was a short delay before he began coughing and hacking and his eyes watered.

"This stuff might be the most lethal drink ever brewed!" he concluded. "I bet one drink of this would be enough to take away all your worries… And possibly dissolve a hole in your stomach…"

"Give me that," Hiei said, snatching the open bottle from Yusuke's hand.

"Hiei, don't!" Kurama warned.

"Don't tell me what to do," Hiei growled at him. "I'm not a child, despite what you all think of me."

He lifted the bottle to his lips and threw back his head, leaving Kurama cringing and Yusuke beaming. Kuwabara joined them then, his jaw dropping open as he watched Hiei drinking from the bottle. He was spluttering and shaking, but he kept drinking for as long as he possibly could before lowering his head to cough and quiver pitifully.

"You should never drink poitin," Kurama said, taking the bottle from Hiei. "Even someone with your constitution could be left paralytic after consuming an entire bottle of this. And, depending on the grade, it may only take the smallest amount to incapacitate you."

Kurama turned the bottle around, but found no label, and so resorted to taking a sip himself. The liquor made his gums throb and his throat burn, and at first he could not taste anything for the awful buzzing sensation his entire head was filled with. He took another, longer swig, the pain a little easier to process the second time, and finally he began to taste something of the flavour.

"This is at least a grade five," he concluded. "No-one should drink any more of this, no matter what."

"That bad?" Kuwabara asked. "Can I smell it?"

Kurama handed the bottle to him and he cautiously sniffed at the opening, wincing and coughing almost immediately upon inhaling the noxious vapours.

"That's awful!" he said in a strained voice. "It smells like turpentine, how could anyone actually drink that?"

"You have to try it," Yusuke insisted.

"No way, Urameshi!" Kuwabara said.

"It burns," Hiei said. "It burns all through my body and… What happened to my voice?"

"You've probably burnt your throat," Yusuke replied. "Listen to me, I sound like Kuwabara already and I didn't drink nearly as much as you did!"

Hiei blinked curiously at the bottle in Kuwabara's hands.

"Alcohol is so bad for you," Kuwabara told him. "This is the stuff that crazy Kokou lady was drinking back at Enki's place – if you drink this, you'll be as crazy as she is."

Hiei grabbed the bottle, tugging it from Kuwabara's hold and taking another drink before allowing Yusuke to take it from him. Yusuke took another small mouthful before holding the bottle out towards Kurama.

"Your turn," he said.

"I'm driving," Kurama replied. "And I don't recommend that anyone else continue drinking that either. Even if we split that one bottle fairly between the four of us, we would be incapacitated and unable to defend ourselves should we come under attack."

"Do they have drink driving laws in demon world?" Yusuke asked.

"No, but I know I would be unable to drive in the morning if I did indulge," Kurama replied.

"Okay old man, your loss," Yusuke said, moving the bottle towards Kuwabara. "Your turn, Kuwabara."

"Absolutely no way!" Kuwabara yelped. "I'm not even gonna taste that stuff! Why would I? Look what it did to Kokou? Anyone drinking that would have to be out of their mind!"

* * *

"Sir, Sir, Sir!"

Koenma's head jerked up from his desk, a single sheet of paper clinging to one side of his face. He hurriedly clawed it back down and shook himself off, hoping to look alert as George burst through his office doors.

"Sir, I have urgent news!" the ogre announced as he skidded to a halt before Koenma's desk.

"It had better be good news, ogre," Koenma warned him.

"Sir?"

"You never come in here to tell me anything nice, and I'm getting sick of it. I'm in here, working all night to cover for the mess in living world with no ferry girls to tend to matters there, not even getting a single wink of sleep, I don't need you barging in here with more bad news!"

George peered at Koenma's desk.

"Sir, isn't that the same room service breakfast request form you were filling in when I was last here five hours ago?" he asked.

"Get to the point, ogre!" Koenma snapped, banging his tiny fists against the desk.

"Sir, a book is missing from the library," George said.

"Well that's hardly an excuse to wake me up in the middle of the night, is it?"

"I thought you said you were already awake and hard at work, Lord Koenma…?"

"A late library book isn't really just cause for waking up the prince of spirit world, ogre!"

"But Sir, it's one of the ancient books, one from the reference section. It's not meant to be borrowed, but someone has removed it."

"Again ogre, this is hardly a portent of the next dark age. Get out of my sight, or I will personally beat you until everyone calls you the purple ogre!"

"You should look at this first, Sir."

George placed down an open file on Koenma's desk and the prince begrudgingly looked down at it, scanning through it for anything that might make the ogre's otherwise highly pointless disruption seem worthwhile. The file was open at a page for signing out books from the library, and only a few had not been signed back in, the last of which eventually caught his eye. The title of the book made him forget all about sleeping that night, and the words in the "Sign Out" box sent him into a blind panic: in a row of large and rounded characters that could only have been written by Botan were the words "this little kitty wanted to have an adventure".

"This is a bad thing," Koenma said quietly. "Do you know what that book is about?"

"It seems to be some sort of language book, Sir," George replied.

Koenma groaned.

"You're an idiot," he said.

"Some people do say that, Sir," George replied.

"What? Oh, never mind. This book contains details of some ancient talismans, capable of very powerful illusions. If used in the wrong combination, they could be deadly and have catastrophic consequences. And Botan checked that book out three months ago! I need to find her right now!"

Koenma grabbed up his remote control, switching on the television at the communication channel and trying one last time to reach Botan via her communicator. To his amazement, a face appeared on the screen after just two rings; but unfortunately it was not Botan.

"Yusuke?" Keiko said, staring blankly out from the screen. "Are you there, Yusuke?"

"Keiko?" Koenma said. "Why do you have Botan's communication mirror?"

"Yusuke?" she shouted. "Can you hear me, Yusuke?"

"I'm not Yusuke!" Koenma snapped.

"She doesn't have heightened spiritual awareness like Kuwabara and his sister, Sir," George pointed out. "She can't see or hear you in your current form."

Koenma was surprised that the ogre had actually said something sensible and helpful for once, but he did not bother to commend his minion, instead switching off the television and terminating the link to Keiko.

"If Botan doesn't have her communication mirror with her, there's only one way I can reach her now," he said instead. "I'm going to have to go to living world."

"But Sir, aren't you supposed to stay in your office until the SDF return from their mission?" George asked.

Koenma removed his tall hat, leapt up onto his desk and jumped up from there to deposit his hat onto George's head.

"Cover for me, ogre," he said.

"But Sir!" George protested.

"I won't be long!" Koenma called back over his shoulder as he scurried out the office doors.

* * *

Botan had reached the conclusion that she had run out of options: without her communication mirror, she would have to return to spirit world and locate the translation book to figure out what the runes Hiei had communicated to her telepathically really meant. She knew it would be risky, and that she would probably be caught, but she had to try. She stepped out onto the lawn, looking around the night sky forlornly as she summoned her oar. In the same moment that she sat down onto her oar she saw a brief flash of light by the temple steps, and, despite the darkness of night, she clearly saw Koenma, in his adult form, appearing at the temple gate.

Without thinking clearly, Botan shot up and back over the roof of the temple, turning until she saw a familiar point in the forest and then rocketing towards it. The transition from one world to another was relatively easy, and on the other side of the portal Botan almost felt at ease: she had left one black, starry sky for another, and there was nothing too unsettling about that. She even allowed herself to smile as she glided through the still night air: but her complacency was short-lived, as a blinding bolt of lightning tore through the sky ahead of her, followed by an angry roar of thunder. In her temporary blindness, Botan lost her balance and started to spiral downwards, only then remembering that her oar was still missing part of the blade, and in her panic she lost control completely and began freefalling towards the ground.

She hoped she would land in a safe, friendly part of demon world.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Yusuke really ought to notice that something's up with Hiei after getting a little too close and personal with him, but he's unfortunately a little intoxicated, and not really noticing much of anything. Botan lands in a fortuitous location – and not just as far as she is concerned. And when Kurama hears a pair of ice maidens being especially friendly with each other, he loses his last fragile grip of self-control. **Chapter 20 – Totally Noxious**


	20. Totally Noxious

**A/N:** There are over 9000 random pop culture references in this chapter, so just in case they are missed, I'll credit them here:  
"Misery" by Soul Asylum  
"Syndicated Incorporated" by Weird Al Yankovic (mock of "Misery")  
"Cooking With Dog" is a channel on YouTube  
"Hey Now" by Cyndi Lauper

This chapter potentially deserves an upped rating for the language, especially in the first part. And also maybe because it goes in a bit Monty Python in places…

* * *

 **Chapter 20: Totally Noxious**

"They say Mizore loves company. We could start a company and make Mizore."

"I don't think that's what that song was about."

"No?"

"I think it was about all the repeats on TV."

"Really?"

"Yeah. That's why it's called "Syndicated Incorporated"."

"I never knew that."

Yusuke again insisted that it was, nodding sagely as Kuwabara took another drink from the bottle.

"It's strange that Mizore was in that song though," Yusuke said. "Because I've never seen her on TV."

"Me neither," Kuwabara said, passing the bottle to Yusuke. "Maybe she did one of those daytime cooking shows."

"Like "Cooking with Dog"?" Yusuke asked, before taking another drink.

"I've never tried cooking dog before," Kuwabara replied.

"Do you think it matters what sort of dog you use? Like would there be a huge difference in taste between a Poodle and a Great Dane?"

"I burnt a noodle once."

"Just one noodle?"

"No, a whole packet."

"A whole packet of Poodles?"

"You ate a packet of Poodles? Where did you get them from?"

"There's a Chinese food market by our old school that sells dog brain stew."

"Do you think eating brains would make you more clever?"

Kurama stood up abruptly and grabbed the bottle from Kuwabara's hand.

"What are you all vertical for?" Yusuke asked him.

"I think you've had enough," Kurama replied. "All of you."

He nodded towards Hiei, who was lying facedown on Puu's back, combing his fingers through Puu's feathers, his eyes closed and a strangely contented smile on his face.

"You can hold your drink so well, man," Kuwabara said to Kurama. "I'm not drunk, but I can't stand up any more."

"I'm not drunk," Yusuke added. "Who-who said anything about me being drunk?"

"I'm not drunk, but my legs might be a little bit drunk," Kuwabara said.

"Your legs are drunk?" Yusuke asked him.

"Yeah, when I try to stand up, they don't do what I tell them to."

"Wow!"

"Exactly," Kurama said firmly. "So no more for anyone."

He walked to the edge of the roof and began pouring out the bottle over the side of the vehicle. The moon was high in the sky but it was still painfully early in the night, and, with Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei having consumed a bottle and a half of grade five poitin between them, it was going to be a very long night.

"Hey Hiei?" Yusuke called out. "Hiei? Hiei!"

Kurama looked back over his shoulder and saw Hiei still sprawled over Puu, not so much as opening his eyes at the sound of his name being yelled at an obnoxious volume. Yusuke started to stand up, but his legs gave way beneath him and he fell forwards in a way that was sure to have broken something. Numbed by the alcohol, he pulled himself up onto all fours and crawled across the roof to Puu's side and began tapping a finger against Hiei's bare shoulder.

"Hey, tiny, are your legs drunk?" he asked. "Because Kuwabara's legs are drunk and I think mine might be too."

"Puu's feathers are the softest substance ever invented in the world of the universe," Hiei replied, smoothing his hands over Puu's back.

Yusuke stroked at the small feathers by Puu's shoulder experimentally before breaking into a lop-sided grin.

"That is the most softest thing ever," he concluded. "But what about your legs? Can you stand up still?"

"I can do anything," Hiei replied. "You all think I'm so weak and pathetic, but you don't know me at all."

"Stand up then," Yusuke said.

Hiei finally opened his eyes and pulled himself over the curve of Puu's back before letting himself slide, face first, down Puu's wing to the tank roof, where he landed with a series of softened thuds. He then attempted to stand, stumbling about awkwardly but eventually managing to hold his position when Puu pushed the top of his head into the small of his back.

"Ta-da!" Hiei said.

"You son of a bitch, Hiei!" Yusuke said. "How do you do that?"

Yusuke grabbed at Hiei's arms and Hiei tried to pull him to his feet, but, just as Kurama had suspected, they both collapsed onto each other. Yusuke pushed Hiei over and grabbed onto Puu's neck, working with the aid of his spirit beast to find his footing. One he was upright – held in place by Puu's beak threaded through the belt-hoops of his pants, he looked down to see Hiei trying to stand again, his feet and hands flat against the metal roof and his rear-end raised up in the air. He seemed to be trying to pushing himself up with his hands, but his feet were stumbling slightly every time he tried to lift his hands from the ground. Taking pity on the little fire demon, Yusuke grabbed clumsily at the fabric of Hiei's pants by his hips and pulled him back.

Hiei yelped, stumbling back until his hips collided with Yusuke thighs. He straightened up, swaying slightly but managing to stay upright as Yusuke held onto him tightly. Yusuke's face slowly changed and his hands gripped tighter at Hiei's hips, his fingers pushing more firmly into the folds of his pants, probing at his form beneath them. After a few moments of awkward fumbling he pushed Hiei forwards again, holding him at arms' length and peering down as he bunched up the material of Hiei's pants, stretching them tight over Hiei's backside.

"You've got a really nice ass, Hiei," he concluded.

"What?" Hiei echoed.

"I thought your ass would be small and hard, but it's really great," Yusuke continued. "And I've groped a lot of asses, so I'm like the ass master."

"Did you just call yourself an ass master, Urameshi?" Kuwabara called over to them.

"Hiei's got a great ass Kuwabara, you should come over here and take a look at this," Yusuke called back.

Kurama groaned, throwing the empty bottle over the other side of the rocks beside their vehicle.

"It looks really soft and round," Yusuke told Hiei.

"Are you telling me I look fat?" Hiei asked.

"No, it's just perfect," Yusuke assured him. "It's just got enough padding for a pounding, you know what I mean?"

"…No…?"

"Like if someone was to do you from behind, it would be nice and cushioned down there."

"Do what?"

"I would do you from behind Hiei. You know, if you were a girl. Your ass is that great. You could probably strip with an ass like that."

"…What…?"

"Hey-hey Kurama!"

Kurama winced as Yusuke turned his head in his direction.

"Would you-would you do Hiei from behind?"

Kurama's face dropped.

"Oh no, wait!" Yusuke said, looking suddenly and worryingly thoughtful. "You probably do all your girlfriends from behind, right? Because you're a fox. So you probably always do it like a dog, right?"

"Foxes and dogs are different types of animal," Hiei said. "I learned that when I left the ice village."

"They're both hairy with four legs and a tail," Yusuke replied.

"Cats are hairy with four legs and a tail," Kuwabara said.

"We're not talking about cats, dufus!" Yusuke moaned. "Damn it, Kuwabara! Why does everything have to be about cats with you?"

"You just said hairy with four legs and a tail," Kuwabara defended himself.

"Many things are hairy with four legs and a tail," Hiei pointed out.

"Kuwabara likes cats!" Yusuke snorted.

"I know," Hiei agreed.

"It's funny because cat is another word for vagina!" Yusuke said.

"Okay, I think you three should call it a night," Kurama interrupted.

"Okay," Yusuke said. "But "night" is the weirdest name I've ever heard for vagina. But whatever."

"What happened to the poison?" Kuwabara asked.

"It's poitin, and I took it away," Kurama replied. "For your own good, because for what it's doing to you, it might as well be poison."

"You should lighten up and join us, fox boy," Yusuke said.

"No thank you," Kurama said. "One of us has to be able to stay up."

"Are you saying I can't keep it up?" Yusuke asked. "Because you should ask Keiko: I'm definitely a stayer."

"That's not what I meant and you know it. I'm not sure it is any warmer out here than it is inside the vehicle, but I suggest you expend what little energy you have left finding a warm place to rest your head for the night."

"I can think of a really warm place I'd like to rest my head tonight."

"Yusuke, please."

"That's what she said."

"You're a damn pervert, Yusuke."

Yusuke's eyes grew wide as though he was shocked by Kurama's accusation.

"You are," Kurama insisted. "Your thought processes default to filth at every chance. I bet if I cut your head open, it would be full of hairy triangles."

Yusuke collapsed against Puu's wing with laughter and Kuwabara began laughing too.

"I don't get it," Hiei muttered.

"You're a filthy bastard Yusuke," Kurama said, shaking his head. "You shouldn't wonder why Keiko is so often disgusted by you."

"Keiko loves me!" Yusuke argued, becoming suddenly serious.

"Right now, nobody loves you," Kurama replied. "And tomorrow morning, when you've got the hangover from hell, nobody will want to go anywhere near you."

"Hey do you think maybe some of those girls would want to join the party?" Yusuke asked, looking around the others.

"What party?" Hiei asked.

"There's a party?" Kuwabara asked.

"Nobody's having a party," Kurama said.

"I'm having a party," Yusuke said, releasing Hiei, who fell to the ground without Yusuke's help to remain upright. "And I was thinking about inviting some of those girls – you know, just the young hot ones, not any of the kids or the old ones. It's a pants party."

"Go to bed Yusuke," Kurama flatly answered him.

"There's probably not enough beds to go around," Yusuke began. "And maybe one of those girls–"

"Hey!" Hiei cut him off, waving a hand at him from his position on the ground. "You can't do that!"

"I'm not talking about banging one of your cousins," Yusuke assured him. "Just… Tell me which ones are related to you, and I won't touch them."

"No, not that," Hiei said, shaking his head. "What about Keiko?"

"That's not cool, Urameshi," Kuwabara added. "You should honour your commitment to Keiko."

"She's not my wife!" Yusuke protested.

"It's still cheating," Kuwabara argued.

"Only if one of you douchebags tells her! What she doesn't know won't ever bother anything."

Kurama moved over to Hiei's side, taking hold of his shoulders and sitting him back onto his heels.

"I'm taking you to bed," he told him.

Hiei turned to look at him with large eyes, as though he was shocked by the very idea.

"I'm only taking pity on you because you're sick and I appreciate that, after what you've been through today, you have a reasonable excuse for behaving the way you have done tonight," Kurama explained. "Yusuke, Kuwabara, you two are on your own. At least Puu is still alert enough to watch guard for us."

"You're going home already?" Yusuke asked Kurama as he stood up, hoisting Hiei up to his feet in front of him. "But the party's not over yet!"

"Try to get some sleep," Kurama advised him. "And perhaps have a glass of water and a snack before you do – preferably something salty, to stave off the inevitable dehydration you'll suffer in the morning. I think I saw some salted nuts in the supplies closet."

"Do you think those girls would like a taste of my salted nuts?"

"Yusuke, please don't even joke about that."

"You shouldn't give salt to ice maidens," Kuwabara said.

"Why not?" Yusuke asked.

"Well, salt melts ice doesn't it?"

"Let's go," Kurama said to Hiei.

"Where are we going?" Hiei asked as Kurama pushed him towards the open roof hatch.

"To bed," Kurama answered.

"Hey, go easy on the little guy, Kurama!" Yusuke called after them. "It's probably his first time!"

Kuwabara started laughing and Yusuke collapsed into Puu's shoulder.

"It's not my first time," Hiei told Kurama quietly as Kurama began climbing down into the body of the tank ahead of him. "I've been to bed many times before. In fact, I've done it at least once every day of my life."

"Did Hiei just say he does it at least once every day?" Yusuke asked Kuwabara.

"I can't believe Hiei found a girl who would let him do that to her everyday," Kuwabara replied.

"It's probably real easy for Hiei to do it every day," Yusuke continued. "Because he has super-speed, right? It probably only takes him like thirty seconds to do a chick."

"Yeah, that's like twice as long as it takes me," Kuwabara said.

"Yeah, I know, he's – wait, what?"

Once he was halfway down the ladder, Kurama reached up and pulled Hiei down after him, forcing him to climb down the ladder himself. Yusuke and Kuwabara continued an increasingly nonsensical conversation on the roof as Kurama and Hiei climbed back inside the vehicle, but their words were becoming mercifully incoherent with increased distance. Kurama stepped off the ladder and did a quick survey of the upper deck: it was relatively warm there compared to the rest of the vehicle, but there were only two bedrooms there. He had thought that the four of them would take shifts watching guard and sleeping, but that plan had been ruined beyond salvation, and he could not go an entire night without sleep if he was to make the drive back to Arbeinia the following morning, so Kurama was hoping that Puu would take over guard duty for him. When he turned back to the ladder he found Hiei near the end of it, one hand clutching a rung, the other arm wrapped around the ladder, one foot firmly on a rung and the other hanging loosely off to one side of the ladder. And, quite worryingly, his eyes were closed and it looked as though he had fallen asleep.

Kurama carefully pried Hiei from the ladder and eased him over his shoulder, moving to the nearest of the two bedrooms. It happened to be the room the closet full of alcohol resided in, but Hiei seemed to be too incapacitated to try to drink any more, so Kurama intended to leave him there. There were two single beds in the other bedroom, and Kurama intended to take one of them for himself as soon as possible, and leave Yusuke and Kuwabara to their own devices. It was likely that they would remain on the roof the whole night through, and, as long as Puu stayed with them, they were as well off there as they were anywhere else. They had most of the blankets from the supplies closet with them, which was more than enough to keep them warm.

Kurama pulled back the covers and carefully placed Hiei down on the bed. He looked ridiculously tiny lying in an enormous bed that looked as though it had been designed for Enki to share with a partner at least as big as he was. It was probably just as well, Kurama thought, since Hiei was unlikely to roll off of such a big bed and give himself a concussion. With that thought in mind, Kurama pulled the sheets further down and began pushing Hiei towards the middle of the bed: but his actions awoke Hiei from his brief spell of unconsciousness.

"Mother?" he said, squinting curiously at Kurama.

"I know it's dark in here Hiei, but even that's no excuse for calling me your mother," Kurama answered him.

"Where am I?" Hiei asked, looking about the room almost fearfully.

"I've taken you to a bedroom to get some rest," Kurama replied. "You're going to need it. Now wait here, don't move, I'm going to get you a flask of water. And maybe some aspirin for the morning, if I can find any…"

"Are you leaving me here alone?" Hiei called after him as he started towards the door.

"Yes, but I'm coming back," Kurama answered without looking back or slowing down.

"Do you promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

Once he was out of the room, Kurama shook his head in despair. He quickly moved down to the main deck to collect two flasks from the supplies closet, silently noting just how cold it was down there – though it was probably only to be expected, since the entire population of the ice village were residing there. He moved on to the water tank and began opening one of the flasks to fill it, drawing in a deep breath on instinct before he could restrain himself, involuntarily breathing in the near intoxicating scent of the ice village flowers. It was especially strong by the water tank, which was located just before the frozen over door that led into the accommodation compartment the ice maidens were all hiding in. One more deep breath left Kurama feeling light-headed, his hands grabbing at the struts of the water tank to steady himself on his feet.

For a brief moment, as he tried to hold his breath and regain his focus, he found his mind trying to actually picture what fifty-six ice maidens would look like. It was just a number before, but suddenly he wanted to see that number interpreted into reality. Five of them were elders and eleven were minors, but the remaining forty were adults, and even forty was a difficult number to picture accurately. Kurama ran his eyes around the smoking ice sealing the door shut, silently noting that, although the seal was complete, it was not terribly thick or complex. It could probably be quite easily overcome with the application of boiling water or a handful of salt.

Kurama shook his head, trying to literally shake the thoughts from his mind, and turned his attention back to the water tank. He positioned a flask beneath the tap and pulled the lever to fill it; but nothing happened. Kurama tried pulling the lever all the way down, but still nothing happened. Kuwabara had claimed that the tank was at least three quarters full, but the tap was dry. Kurama tapped a finger against the middle of the tank, the sound it made telling him there was definitely something inside. He took hold of the tap, and, as another deep breath of the scented air around him sent a rush of adrenaline through him, he unintentionally tore the whole dispensing valve unit from the tank, leaving a gaping hole he could comfortably fit his head through. On instinct he leapt back a step, expecting the water to come rushing out of the jagged opening. When none did, he looked down at the warped metal wreck in his hand, studying it from all angles before crouching down to bring his eyes level with the breakage.

At first, Kurama thought that the shiny, transparent and solid object inside the body of the tank was a glass lining, and only when he cautiously poked a finger at it did he realise otherwise: perhaps unsurprisingly, the entire tank of water was frozen solid.

Kurama growled and stood up again, silently thinking about how frankly anti-social the ice maidens were – even without trying or probably without even knowing, they were being rude and unhelpful. He wondered if he ought to just chip loose some of the ice and take it upstairs to warm it, since Hiei, Yusuke and Kuwabara would all be in desperate need of fresh drinking water by the morning, but before he could formulate a plan for the best way to do just that, he heard something from beyond the frozen door that made him drop the flasks he had been carrying. Despite them clattering very loudly against the metallic flooring, the noises beyond the door did not stop – apparently the pair making the noises were too lost in what they were doing to have heard the disturbance outside.

Kurama reached a hand out towards the door, tracing the ice along the top of the doorframe with his fingertips. It melted readily under his touch, proving that the seal was as flimsy as it looked. As his fingers reached the edge he clawed into the ice, which shattered in his grip, falling in a shower of crystals that hit the floor almost melodically. He pulled back his hand, frowning curiously at the distinct gouge marks his fingers had made, before slowly turning his hand over and lowering his eyes to study his fingers. In the instant that Kurama realised he was bearing a distinct set of claws, he heard another delicious moan from the other side of the door and felt a distinct spike of energy in his chest.

It was ironic, he thought, that in his one moment of weakness, in the one moment when he would have liked any – or even all – of the others to intervene, he was completely alone and with only his own will to stop himself from following through with the dark thoughts blossoming in his mind.

* * *

"Typical," Mukuro said, throwing aside the data-slate she had just read.

"I suppose that's one of the disadvantages of stationing your headquarters so far away from any of the major hubs in demon world," Kirin muttered as he caught the data-slate awkwardly before it hit the ground.

"Today isn't a good day to be a snippy bitch," Mukuro warned him. "I've got a basement full of sick bodies, my so-called solution just disappeared in the worst example of counter-productive rebellion I've ever heard of, and meanwhile I'm left living in quarantine in case I contract the virus myself! This damn courtyard is the only place I'm safe outdoors, I feel like a prisoner in my own fortress – does that sound fair to you, Kirin?"

"Uh, no Sir, that doesn't sound very fair," Kirin agreed. "But since the ice maidens are no longer being sent out to help us, surely Enki will have a back-up plan."

"Back-up plan?"

"Well look at the ice maidens: who would have thought that a clan of emotionally retarded and physically incompetent girls living on a rock in the sky could have helped us? Maybe some other wacky solution will just fall out of the sky."

Mukuro turned around to face Kirin, giving him a glare that she hoped could make even a warrior of his calibre quiver in his boots.

"Stranger things have happened," he added.

"Well let's just see about that, shall we?" she said sarcastically. "I'm waiting!"

She looked up at the sky, holding out her arms expectantly. It was dark outside, the midnight sky clouded over, making it darker still, and so at first, Mukuro thought she was imaging the screaming, tangled mess of colour falling towards her. Some had reported hallucinations as being one of the first signs of having contracted the virus that was causing her so many headaches lately, and she started to think that she was going to have to lose her life to something pitiful: but, as a weight caught in her arms, she was reassured that she had not been imagining it.

A blue-haired ferry girl from spirit world had just fallen from the sky.

"Told you," Kirin said as she glanced in his direction.

* * *

Kurama held his head under the water for as long as he comfortably could before rising up again breathless. The water in the bathrooms – which was not of drinking quality – had thankfully not been frozen over, but, without the power systems working and with the ice maidens keeping the entire interior of the vehicle frosty, the water had dropped to a bitterly cold temperature that would, ordinarily, be unbearable. Kurama dragged his hands down his face to wipe away the excess water before inspecting his reflection in the mirror ahead of him. He fumbled for the flashlight and turned it on his face, illuminating it to allow him to better see it in the dark of the unlit bathroom.

What he saw was a mild improvement of how he had looked when he had first charged into the bathroom, but he still looked fearsomely inhuman. His red hair was streaked with silver and his green eyes were flecked with gold, and his fingers were still ended with claws that were almost as hard as bone and lethally sharp. He had managed to stop himself from reverting back to his full demon form completely, but he was unable to bring himself back into his human form either. As he watched his own desperate and deranged eyes staring back out of the mirror at him, Kurama felt a sickening wave of regret pass over him as he thought about all the times he had experimented with the Fruit of Previous Life, testing it out several times after the Dark Tournament to confirm his theory that each time he used it, he was able to access more of his full demon power and abilities whilst remaining in his human body. Had all those experiments left him susceptible to transforming into Yoko on instinct every time he encountered a situation his demon form was better suited to take control of?

He put down the flashlight, turning it away from himself completely to avoid having to see the evidence of what he could feel was still happening. One part of his mind was trying to plan the quickest and easiest way to escape the vehicle entirely in the hope of breaking the spell the scent of the ice village flowers had caught him in, whilst another part of his mind was trying to plan the quickest and easiest way to break off the ice seal and enter the sleeping quarters the ice maidens were all hiding in, his mind again trying to visualise forty consenting adult females, doe-eyed and fair, their features an exotic blend of fear, curiosity and just the mildest hint of excitement.

Kurama pushed his head into the sink of cold water again, again holding himself there until he could no longer breathe.

When he lifted his head again, breathless and shivering, he distinctly heard someone approaching from outside the bathroom, and an experimental sniff at the air told him the scent of flowers was getting stronger, indicating that the person approaching was an ice maiden. In an instant the conflict in his mind vanished. He grabbed up the flashlight, catching a brief glimpse of himself that confirmed to him that he had transformed completely, the sound of his tail brushing against the edge of the sink providing further proof still, and he yanked out the door, pouncing out into the hallway towards the shadow moving there. By luck, he shone his flashlight onto the stunted figure in front of him before he attempted to grab onto it.

"What are you looking at? Are you a fox?"

The circle of light the flashlight was creating began to quiver as Kurama started to become conflicted again, his sense that he needed to get away suddenly returning, and quickly surpassing his desire to storm the ice maidens' hiding place.

"Why are you naked?" he asked, the sound of his own voice telling him that he was still in his full demon form, despite having managed to gain complete control over his darker desires.

"Do you want to do something about it?" the figure in front of him asked.

Kurama shook his head, despite the fact that he was standing behind the light source and his gesture was probably not visible.

"I hear your kind like to chase after us ice maidens. I thought you might want to start something. That's why you're here, isn't it? The smell drew you to us. Just like that other one, the one who ambushed a group of ice maidens during their last trip to Arbeinia. He was unsteady and unstable too. Not as silver as you and not quite so refined, but a fox nonetheless."

"Why are you naked?" Kurama asked again.

"Control yourself, fox. If you try to touch me, I'll make you regret it."

Kurama slowly ran his eyes over the creature before him. By her slightly erratic hairstyle alone, it was obvious that she was the same deranged elder they had rescued from Illyria, the one Hiei had called "grandma" – and Kurama had to wonder just how old Tsubara was if she was the mother of the woman he was now looking at, since, without her perfectly tailored clothing to hide the multitude of sins of her true physical form, she looked as though she had already died, a long time ago, and her body had been preserved through mummification.

"You may never know how grateful I am for your incredibly timely intervention," Kurama said carefully. "Though I am still wondering why you would be walking around naked…"

"I came to use the shower," the old ice maiden replied.

"The water is terribly cold, and the heater is not functioning," he told her.

"We don't like hot water," she replied.

She took a step forwards and Kurama leapt back several feet in one bound, landing in a defensive stance. He had not really expected her to attack, but he was a little concerned that she might try to touch him with other, more sickening, intentions, and he was not willing to give her any opportunity to do so.

"You're a strange one," she said. "Almost as strange as the girl travelling with those boys."

Kurama relaxed a little then, a small, mildly amused smile playing on his lips.

"You mean Miss Kurama?" he asked.

"No, not her," the ice maiden replied. "The other one. Hina's child."

Kurama's smile vanished and his hand holding the flashlight lowered. The ice maiden continued into the bathroom and he turned from her, starting back through the body of the vehicle. Only as he reached halfway up the ladder to the upper deck did he finally remember who Hina was: that was the name of Hiei's mother.

Kurama paused. That was strange. The old ice maiden thought Hiei was a girl too? Apparently she really was insane.

Back in Enki's bedroom, Kurama found Hiei sitting by one side of the bed, his legs crossed in front of him and his arms huddled around his body.

"Are you starting to feel the cold?" Kurama asked.

Hiei's head jerked up and his eyes locked onto Kurama, his expression strangely haunted.

"I was sick," he said.

"Oh, I see," Kurama said, moving over and sitting down on the side edge of the bed.

"You're a fox," Hiei said, watching Kurama from the corner of his eye.

"Yes, I think that… Moving into this troubled part of demon world has awoken my demon spirit," Kurama carefully replied.

"They wouldn't let me go back there."

"What?"

"The ice maidens. They wouldn't let me go back there."

"To the ice village? No, they don't seem to want you there."

"I don't care about that. They wouldn't let me go back there, into the back of this vehicle, where the others are hiding."

"Oh, I see. Did you want to go back there? Most of them don't seem to be too pleased about your proximity when you're in the cabin, I don't imagine they would be too pleased to have you walking amongst them as they sleep."

"I wanted to see Rui."

"Rui, yes. Isn't she the woman who cast you out of the village in the first place?"

"She was trying to help me. I couldn't have left the village if it wasn't for her."

Kurama's face twisted as he silently repeated Hiei's last words inside his head: Hiei was thankful that he had been cast out of the ice village? That was not a sentiment he had ever expressed before. Although he claimed to hate the place and feel no connection to it, Kurama had never heard Hiei outright admit that he thought it was for the best that he had not been raised there – and he had always assumed that Hiei had never vocalised that sentiment because he had never felt it.

"She helped me get out," Hiei continued. "And she helped me get back in. Only it wasn't good enough. I wasn't good enough, not any more. Tsubara said she could still smell the stench of men and humans on me, she said I had been tainted, she said I could never integrate back into her community."

"You met the chief elder of the ice village when you returned there?" Kurama asked. "You never mentioned that before. I thought you just met with Rui and visited your mother's grave."

"She said I could only stay there if I passed the purity test," Hiei carried on, as though he had not even heard Kurama's question. "I didn't know what it was. I'd never seen anyone else take it. I thought it would be something simple. I just wanted to go home. After my ordeal in living world, I realised that I needed to go back to the ice village. It was where I belonged, and I thought it was the only place I would ever feel safe and welcome. I thought I would pass the test. I thought it would be questions, or community service. I didn't know it was just a spectacle the elders would create in order to terrify the residents of the village further and to press home to them that they could never leave or ever have any independent thought."

"I'm surprised you wanted to take any such test. I didn't think you'd ever wanted to live there. Well, not outwardly, at least."

"I just wanted to go home. I just wanted to feel safe."

"Isn't that why you learned how to fight and trained very hard?"

"Yes, that is why I learned how to fight. I realise now that I have to be strong for myself. But back then, I just wanted to go home, and so I took the test."

Kurama slid his legs up onto the bed, shuffling over to sit directly in front of Hiei.

"What did you have to do?" he asked.

He was unsure if Hiei would answer him or not, but the distant, hollow look in Hiei's eyes at least told him he was not about to be blasted across the room for asking.

"She put a stool in the centre of the village," Hiei said, his voice quieter, though still a little raspy from the effects of drinking the poitin. "She told me to stand on it. It didn't seem like a difficult test. All I had to do was stand there. Nobody hit me, nobody shouted at me. I just stood there."

"I'm not sure I understand," Kurama said. "There was surely some purpose in having you stand there?"

"I was standing there so that everyone in the village could see me," Hiei replied. "Tsubara told them all to watch me. She said if they watched long enough, they'd see how dirty I had become. I didn't know what she meant. She left me there. Everybody watched me, but nobody came near me. Nobody tried to come close. Nobody spoke to me. Nobody brought me food. I couldn't sleep because I had to keep standing."

"You were there for some time?"

"Two days and one night. I didn't move because I thought I was proving to them that I was good enough to live with them again, like I was always meant to. I don't know what Tsubara really expected her test to do, but everyone in the village did start to see me become dirty. I wasn't allowed to leave to use a bathroom and I… And everyone could see the mess… My legs hurt from standing still so long, but I thought I was doing good. Then Rui came to me on the second night and she told me truth. She told me they had done the same thing to my mother after she gave birth to an emiko. They made her stand there like that. She stood there until she died."

"I didn't know that."

"They would have left me there until I died too. They wanted the others in the village to see me die slowly and disgracefully so that none of them would ever dare try to leave or to interact with men. I would have let it happen. I only escaped because of Rui. I just wanted to see her, and they won't let me see her!"

Hiei grabbed up an empty poitin bottle and threw it at the far wall, where it smashed on impact.

"This is why I tried to warn you against defending the ice maidens during this crisis," Kurama pointed out. "I knew something like this would happen. I knew you would be disappointed with what you saw, just as how you were disappointed when you returned to the ice village and saw your people for what they really are: hollow and heartless."

"I don't care that they did it to me," Hiei said, grabbing up another empty poitin bottle. "But they killed my mother that way, and she hadn't even done anything wrong!"

Hiei hurled the bottle at the wall, and it smashed not far from where the previous one had, glass shards tinkling against the floor.

"I'm breaking things, Kurama!" he shouted, turning to look directly at Kurama.

"You always break things when you're frustrated," Kurama reminded him.

"I do?"

Kurama frowned at Hiei's question, watching curiously as the little fire demon pulled every object from the nightstand and threw them each at the wall, one after the other. Once he had finished he stared at the impact marks left behind, his face twitching.

"Do you feel better now?" Kurama asked him.

"No, I feel awful!" he wailed.

"Do you want to be sick?"

"No!"

Hiei awkwardly got to his knees and scrambled to the end of the bed, peering over it at the shattered mess he had created on the floor there. Kurama crawled over to join him, looking down at the array of broken items, which included empty poitin bottles, a clock and an ornamental dish.

"Can you fix them?" Hiei asked.

"No. Did you want me to?" Kurama asked, frowning at Hiei from the corner of his eye.

"Can't you do something foxy to fix them?"

"…Like what?"

"Some glue and sticky tape?"

Kurama turned his head fully towards Hiei.

"I think you might be starting to sober up," he said. "Or maybe sleep depravation is combining with intoxication to make you like this. Either way, I believe now would be a good time for you to go to sleep."

"Why did I break those things?" Hiei asked miserably.

"Because it made you feel better?"

"But I don't feel any better! In fact, I feel worse!"

Kurama slowly straightened up, sitting onto his heels and looking down at Hiei. Something was wrong with Hiei lately – something other than just the virus, the poitin and his confusion over the situation with the ice maidens.

"Hiei?" Kurama began, touching a hand to Hiei's shoulder. "Where were you before the morning you joined us at Genkai's temple at the start of this mission?"

"In a healing tank at Mukuro's home," Hiei replied, still leaning peering down at the broken mess he had created. "You came to see me there."

"Yes that's right, I did," Kurama confirmed. "When I spoke to Mukuro she said you were quite weakened, and that remaining in the tank was the only thing sustaining your life. Her medical staff had calculated that just one more day outside of the tank would be enough to kill you. You've had no cure, but you've continued to function – albeit in a grossly reduced capacity – as if your condition is not deteriorating. I don't understand why you haven't collapsed or improved."

Hiei started to sit up, but before Kurama could catch a glimpse of his face, his ears twitched at the sound of something clanging off one side of the vehicle.

"What was that?" Hiei asked, leaping to his feet on top of the bed. "Are we under attack?"

"It sounded like someone threw a rock at the back of the vehicle," Kurama replied.

Hiei swayed and stumbled slightly before falling awkwardly onto Kurama, who leaned back, catching his friend in his arms. He held Hiei in place as another sound reached his ears and he began to smile.

"Is that-is that Yusuke and Kazuma?" Hiei asked.

"Yes, I think they've gone down to the… What did you just say?" Kurama said.

"Are they singing?"

Kurama nodded slowly.

"I don't think that's the right song to sing," Hiei said quietly.

"Hey now, what's the matter with you, girls just want to have fun?" Kurama muttered.

"But the girls from the ice village abhor fun," Hiei added.

"And you abhor atonal repetition…"

"Fun is too exciting, and excitement can lead to other emotions, and that's not allowed."

"Right, yes, well since you raised that point Hiei, I have to know, why are you… Why are you touching my hair?"

"Because I've always wanted to."

Kurama froze, his breath stilled in his lungs, his eyes staring at the wall unblinking and the only sensation his otherwise numbed form could feel was the slight tickle of the hairs behind one ear moving in rhythm with Hiei's fingers playing through the ends. A deeply disconcerting thought shot to the forefront of his mind, and, as it flooded his conscious, he began replaying memories that only seemed to confirm the conclusion a part of his subconscious had come to a step ahead of his brain.

"I think I understand now," he said quietly.

He felt Hiei release his hair and rest his head against his chest.

"I don't know why I didn't see it before," Kurama continued. "Maybe I didn't want to, or couldn't bring myself to accept it, and so I simply dismissed it as lunacy. I can't believe I've been so blind… Botan is clearly attracted to you, but, rather than take advantage of it or express disgust, you simply dismiss it. Yet when I express an interest in her, you become defensive and agitated. It doesn't make any sense that you would be angered if I were to pursue her when clearly you have no interest in her yourself – which, quite clearly, you don't – which means there's only one other possible explanation for your clearly conflicted emotions… You're not angry about my interest in Botan because you want Botan, you're angry because you want me."

Kurama slowly lowered his eyes to look down at the top of Hiei's head, which was still titled downwards and pressed into his chest.

"Am I right?" he asked quietly.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** The morning after the night before: Botan wakes up in a very strange place, Koenma makes a few discoveries at Genkai's temple that cause him great concern and the boys wake up and have to face the consequences of the night before. **Chapter 21 – Trespassing Nuisance**


	21. Trespassing Nuisance

**A/N:** AND THEN THIS CHAPTER HAPPENED

 **NB:** PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not try fractional freezing at home! Yes it works, but if you don't know what you're doing, you could hospitalise yourself! (And I mean this seriously, it is very dangerous.)

On the other hand, feel free to try hair of the dog (if you never have before). I've never used it myself (mostly because I very, very rarely drink alcohol), but I hear it does work in extreme cases.

* * *

 **Chapter 21: Trespassing Nuisance**

Kurama watched the top of Hiei's head expectantly, but apparently the fire demon was having one of his stubborn, silent moments, because he was not responding. He looked pathetically small and felt uncharacteristically cold, and it was unlike him to let anyone touch him for longer than a few seconds – regardless of the intention behind the contact – and yet he was suddenly very at ease sitting on Kurama's lap and snuggled into his chest.

"Hiei?" Kurama said gently. "Did you hear me? Are you not answering me because you can't, because you don't want to or because you dislike the question?"

Still Hiei said nothing, and Kurama began to grow impatient. A small part of him knew that Hiei's feelings were a very complex and delicate matter, but, as he was still in his full demon form, the part of him that was willing to tread carefully around that matter was suppressed and strongly over-powered by the harsher and more demanding nature of his demon spirit.

"Hiei this is very important," he insisted. "I need to know if I'm right. I know you've had a lot to drink, but this isn't something I can just overlook. If my assumption is right, I need to know now and I need to explain to you exactly how I feel about it now. Hiei?"

Kurama slowly and carefully moved his hands to Hiei's head, cradling the back of his head in one hand and pushing the fingers of his other hand against the underside of Hiei's chin to gently tilt his head back. When Hiei did not resist the movement Kurama already knew what had happened, but continued easing Hiei's head back until he could see his face in full.

As he had expected, Hiei's eyes were closed, his lips slightly parted and his expression relaxed into that softened look it only ever took on when he was asleep. Kurama quietly cursed and lowered Hiei's head down again. Somewhere outside the tank he could still hear Yusuke and Kuwabara singing "Hey Now", the performance having deteriorated even further, as they were no longer even singing in sync with each other, far less in the same key as each other – which was not only incredibly irritating, but also potentially dangerous behaviour as they were making enough noise to alert even the dopiest of patrols within earshot. Kurama sighed, deciding then that the best thing he could do was to try to sleep so that at least he would be rested and ready to continue the journey in the morning. He looked down at the top of Hiei's head again, silently wondering if it was possible to return the fire demon to the bed without waking him: but before his mind could formulate an effective plan, his eyes locked onto something nestled amidst the jagged spikes of Hiei's hair.

Using his claws, Kurama lightly parted Hiei's hair over the mark, his eyebrows rising as he uncovered what seemed to be a streak of hair on Hiei's head that was a different colour from the rest. He flattened down the hair all around it, exposing a small chunk of hair that was black from the mid-length to the tip, but from the root to the middle was pale blue-green. It was odd that the section of hair was two different colours, though Kurama could clearly see why he had never noticed it before, as the colourful section of hair was usually hidden beneath the black hair around it. It looked about the same colour as Yukina's hair, as though it was a small piece of Hiei's ice demon heritage that had crept into his genes, a little reminder of where he had come from. Kurama released Hiei's hair, paused long enough to realise that if Yusuke ever found out that Hiei had such a physical quirk he would surely attribute it to Hiei's transformation into an ice maiden in order to cure himself – which had been a ridiculous theory at best – and then Kurama began combing Hiei's hair back into place with his claws, being careful to completely conceal the small strip of blue.

* * *

Koenma was growing tired of running around in circles. It was obvious that Botan was not anywhere in Genkai's temple, because he had been in every room three times and around the gardens twice, and even Botan was not that good at hiding. He sat down on a couch in the living room and sighed, throwing his arms out across the backrests and slouching low. Trailing living world late at night for a vagrant ferry girl was not really the best use of his time, least of all when spirit world was undergoing a major crisis. If he did not find her by dawn, he would have to return empty-handed, and hope that she had somehow managed to hide herself somewhere safe. She was quite ditzy at times, but Koenma trusted that Botan had good judgement and a reasonable intelligence in a dire situation that would keep her safe.

He sighed, blinking heavily, becoming even more keenly aware that he had not slept after running around in his adult form, which always used more energy than remaining in his toddler form did. His eyes flitted over the low table ahead of him, and at first he saw nothing more than a messy array of papers; but a second glance showed pencil sketches of some worryingly familiar runes.

Koenma slowly sat forwards, reaching his hands out towards the table to gather up the pages. Closer inspection revealed that the runes had not been written by someone familiar with them, or even written at all: they appeared to be drawings of the runes in a specific context, as though someone was drawing a picture that just so happened to have the runes in it. It was hard to tell who had drawn the images, but it was not hard to tell where they originated from. It had been a long time since Koenma had last studied the ancient language, but he remembered enough to know that he was looking at depictions of two very specific spells, and that both had been taken from the book George had reported missing from the spirit world library.

Koenma shuffled forwards to the edge of the couch and laid out all the pages on the table so that he could clearly see what each picture depicted. After shuffling them around a few times he started to notice a pattern. As soon as he was sure of what he was seeing, the prince shot up and ran out of the temple, forcing his tired legs to keep running across the length of the lawn to the temple gate. He jogged down thirteen steps and then leapt from the steps into the forest, scrambling over uneven ground and around tree trunks to reach one dead, hollowed out tree that was so pale against the others that it looked almost ghostly. He dropped to his knees in front of it and began digging through piles of loose leaves and what was clearly recently disturbed soil by the old, dead roots. He did not have to search for long before his fingers found the corner of a book, and, as he pulled it from its hiding place, he was not in the slightest surprised to find that it was the missing library book Botan had checked out.

Koenma shook the excess dirt from the book and opened it to the contents pages, skimming it in the vain hope of finding a definite answer to which runes he had found drawn out in the temple – because he was hoping that he had been incorrect in his initial deduction. When he realised the chapters were arranged by spell title and purpose he began to lose hope: but then an old idea occurred to him, something he had often seen Yusuke do when he wanted to prove that he only kept a history book on his bookshelf because a certain page of it depicting a nude painting took his interest. Koenma closed the book and turned it over, holding the spine flat against one palm with the pages facing upwards. He then relaxed his grip and, just as Yusuke's history book had always invariably fallen open at the page with the picture of the nude mural, the book in Koenma's hand fell open at one specific point. Koenma grinned at his own ingenious, but his joy was short-lived when he saw which chapter the book had opened to.

"Deception and Power Distortion Spells," he read aloud. "Oh dear…"

* * *

Kurama awoke abruptly to the sound of Puu crowing his own name from somewhere above his head. He turned to the window and saw that it was still dark outside, but there was the faintest hint of light in the sky as though the sun would soon be up. He sat up and yawned, stretching his arms up above his head before finally noticing two very worrying things: first of all, he was still in Enki's bedroom, on the bed he had put Hiei in the night before, and secondly he was still a silver-haired fox demon – and it was the first time since taking over the body of Shuichi Minamino that he had fallen asleep as a fox and woken up as one. He was unsure what to make of it – if his body had managed to maintain the transformation whilst he was unconscious, perhaps that meant he had reverted back to that form permanently.

A small moan drew Kurama's attention to one side, where he saw Hiei lying about a foot away from him, on his back on top of the covers, his legs sprawled out and his arms lying loosely above his head: it was the way a child would sleep, Kurama thought to himself. Hiei was apparently in quite a deep sleep, because he looked perfectly peaceful despite Puu's persistent cooing outside. Puu's call was not an urgent one warning of any danger, but it was a demanding one, informing the others of daybreak – but it had been insufficient to waken Hiei.

Kurama sniffed experimentally at the air. He narrowed his eyes slightly and rolled his weight over onto his knees, leaning his head over Hiei and sniffing again. He started to frown then and placed a hand at either side of Hiei's head, lowering his face closer to Hiei's and again sniffing.

Kurama shot back, his feet on the floor before he even realised that he had cleared the bed: Hiei reeked of alcohol, and he was surely going to be very ill when he eventually did wake up.

Kurama crossed the room to the partially open door, slipping out of it and starting towards the ladder to the lower deck. He stopped after just a few steps as his delicate olfactory senses became overwhelmed with the scents of alcohol, sweat and vomit. Swallowing down the urge to wretch he tiptoed over to the other room, poking his head through the open doorway. Kuwabara was lying on his back on one of the single beds, one leg hanging over one side, his foot flat against the floor. He was stripping to his underwear and had a stain on his vest that suggested he had thrown up on himself the night before and made a feeble attempt to wipe the mess away before falling asleep and allowing the remainder to dry in. Yusuke was lying in the opposite bed, and his appearance was far more worrying than Kuwabara's: something was bundled up beneath his bed-sheets and he was lying squarely on top of it, his arms and legs loosely hugging around it. He was at least still in his underwear, but he looked like he had been involved in a minor scuffle, and he had a few tell-tale red marks on his hands and arms that looked to be ice-burns.

Kurama carefully edged into the room, picking his way around Kuwabara's bed and over to Yusuke's side. Once there he leaned down and plucked up the covers in his fingers, untucking them and lifting them up to see what lay beneath, tensing himself in anticipation of finding an angry, naked ice maiden.

"Kurama, hey!"

Kurama leapt back, his legs colliding with Kuwabara's bed. Kuwabara gave a few raspy snores before easing back into his slumber.

"Yusuke?" Kurama said, tilting his head slightly.

"Man, I feel great!" Yusuke replied.

He did not look great, Kurama thought darkly. His lips were cracked and swollen, his eyes were bloodshot and his body was unnaturally rigid all over.

"You're still drunk," Kurama concluded aloud.

"Last night was great!" Yusuke said, climbing out of the bed. "I'm not even hungover! I don't even feel tired, and I only went to bed…"

He looked about himself before grabbing up a clock from the nightstand between the two beds.

"Three hours ago!" he said.

"This is very common," Kurama explained. "When you drink very heavily, or very strong concentrations of alcohol – or in your case, do both – a short rest doesn't sober you. The way you feel right now is an illusion, and within the hour, you will be very, very ill. I suggest you get a drink of water and then try to go back to sleep."

"Hey, don't worry about me, I can handle my drink!" Yusuke assured him. "Unlike Kuwabara and Hime!"

"Right. So since you can handle your drink, and you were never drunk, I trust you remember what that is in your bed?"

Yusuke looked back over his shoulder at the mound on his bed.

"Of course I do!" he said, grabbing the covers and flinging them to the floor. "It's a traffic cone!"

Kurama stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the bright orange plastic cone.

"That's a highway traffic cone," he said numbly. "From living world. How did you have the time and energy to go to living world last night?"

"It's tradition!" Yusuke said. "At the end of every great night out, you always take a traffic cone home with you."

"It's a living world traffic cone," Kurama said again. "Where did you get it?"

"That's part of the mystery of the cone: nobody knows where it came from. It just is."

Kurama shook a finger at the cone, words failing him.

"It was a wild night," Yusuke added.

"It's a traffic cone," Kurama said. "From living world. The kind used on highways."

"You know my throat is pretty dry, I think I might go get a glass of water…"

Yusuke stepped past Kurama, leaving the fox staring at the traffic cone in a blend of disbelief and amusement. Kurama held his position there, his mind trying to process how and when Yusuke could have gone to living world the night before, only snapping back to reality when he heard Yusuke fall partway down the ladder to the lower deck. He then turned, leapt over Kuwabara's bed and ran to the ladder, hurrying down it to Yusuke's side.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just slipped a bit I guess," Yusuke casually replied, pulling himself up again with the aid of the ladder.

"You really should be more careful," Kurama warned.

"Okay."

Yusuke sauntered off, apparently oblivious to the red imprint of the steel floor down one side of his back. Kurama followed after him, catching up to him as he stopped by the drinking water tank.

"What happened here?" Yusuke asked, poking a finger into the jagged hole on the front of the tank.

Memories of moaning ice maidens and exactly why his face was flanked with silver tresses passed over Kurama's mind, but he covered them with a tight smile.

"The water was frozen, being so close to the ice maidens," he explained.

Yusuke turned to look at him, his eyes flicking over Kurama's form.

"You're taller," he concluded. "And you've got a couple of fluffy things in your hair."

Yusuke stepped past Kurama and made his way through to the cabin. Kurama followed him there, almost tripping over himself in shock at the mess he found. The space blankets had all been torn open, shreds of the fibre linings littering every surface and obscuring most of the controls from view, one of the sun visors had been broken off and, worst of all, there was an enormous wet stain in the back corner of the cabin, where there had obviously been a large deposit of liquid that had mostly soaked through the flooring. Kurama cautiously approached it, sniffing tentatively at the air around it to confirm what the stain had once been.

"Fabio!" Kuwabara said suddenly.

Kurama spun around and found Kuwabara suddenly in the cabin and glaring at him accusingly.

"No Kuwabara, it's me, Kurama," he corrected him.

"But you're a fox!" Kuwabara said.

"Didn't know you were into guys, Kuwabara!" Yusuke snorted.

Kurama sighed quietly.

"Did the two of you forget where the toilet was last night?" he asked, pointing at the wet patch.

"That wasn't me," Yusuke replied. "Isn't it just from the broken water tank on the other side of the wall?"

Kurama lifted his eyes to the wall above the stain, quickly realising that Yusuke made a very valid point: the tank was on the other side of the wall, and, with a huge gaping hole in the bottom of it, had the contents melted, they would surely have flooded the floor at that exact point.

"That was our drinking water…" he said faintly.

"Hey, look what I found!" Kuwabara said cheerfully.

Kurama turned to see what he was referring to and found him holding up the traffic cone.

"My hat!" Yusuke said, grabbing the pointed felt hat that was sitting on top of the cone. "This is the hat we bought at the market in the underground!"

Kurama started to ask how it was possible that the hat – which ought to have been left on their previous stolen vehicle along with all the other goods they had bought at the markets in the underground – had found its way onto the traffic cone – which ought to be on a highway somewhere in living world – but the ridiculousness of his own question left him at a loss for how to even finish asking it.

"I knew I'd be able to use this!" Yusuke said, shaking out the hat.

He started to lift it towards his head, but somehow ended up burying his face into it and vomiting into it instead.

"That happened quicker than I expected," Kurama muttered.

"That's so weird," Yusuke said as he pulled back from the hat. "I just chucked up a bunch of flowers."

"What? No way!" Kuwabara said. "Let me see…"

Kuwabara leaned over Yusuke's shoulder and together they studied the contents of the hat. Kurama set about clearing the driver's chair and console, turning the key in the ignition to test whether or not any of the systems would come online yet. He got no response, but continued clearing the mess away anyway, deciding that it was best to be prepared to take off as soon as the sun was up.

"I don't remember eating flowers…" Yusuke muttered, reaching a hand into the hat.

Kurama looked back over his shoulder in time to see Yusuke pull out a soggy white chunk from his hat.

"What kind of flower is that anyway?" Kuwabara asked.

"It's not a flower," Kurama told them flatly. "It's milk."

They both moved their eyes to the fox demon, each looking as sceptical as the other.

"You must have drunk some milk recently," Kurama explained. "It curdles in your stomach acid and forms white curds, which often take the shape of blossoms like that. I don't remember there being any milk on board, but it really only tends to happen with milk, yoghurt or ice cream…"

"I feel sick," Kuwabara said in a low voice.

"What did you do last night?" Kurama asked, narrowing his eyes at them. "You didn't come into contact with any of the ice maidens at all did you?"

"Why?" Yusuke asked. "You think we got a free drink of milk from one of them?"

"That's exactly what I think," Kurama replied. "There is at least one nursing mother back there, why not?"

"I feel sick," Kuwabara moaned.

"Oh yeah, I just went back there and had her whip me up some ice cream with her ice powers and boob milk!" Yusuke snapped.

Kuwabara took the hat from Yusuke and vomited into it. As he lifted his head his eyes grew wide.

"Oh my God…" he whispered. "I've been eating ice maiden boob flavour ice cream flowers too!"

Kurama growled in frustration and turned his attention back to the controls, sitting down hard into the driver's chair and turning the key in the ignition again. The engine made a small splutter but otherwise did not respond, but a buzzing sound, followed by a series of whirring sounds that grew in intensity, told Kurama that the power systems were all back online at last.

"Who milked her?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama wrenched the key around again, and finally the engine roared to life. He gladly shifted the gearstick and sunk his foot on the accelerator. The vehicle lurched forwards and he sharply tugged on the steering wheel to bring the vehicle back up onto the road. Behind him Yusuke and Kuwabara staggered about before falling over with a sickening slosh and a groan – both of which suggested the contents of the hat had been spilled – there was a collective, high-pitched babble of alarm from the back of the vehicle, presumably from the scores of ice maidens who had just been thrown from their bunks, and, outside, Puu took to the air with an agitated cry, flailing around slightly before collapsing back down to the roof of the vehicle with a dull thud and a low moan that sounded as pitiful as his master would doubtlessly look in about another hour.

Kurama ignored them all and drove on towards Arbeinia, determining to get them there before another night could delay them any further.

* * *

"Where am I? What time is this? What place of man? Wh–ow!"

Botan sat up sharply, touching a hand to her stinging cheek and pouting indignantly.

"I'm not really much of a morning person," a flat voice greeted her.

Botan slowly moved her eyes to one side, seeing then that she was laying on a small futon next to an enormous throne of some sorts, atop which was Mukuro, leering back down at her with what was clearly a displeased scowl. The corners of her mouth were turned distinctly downwards and her one visible eye was thinned, only the faintest hint of blue visible through her lids, and the metal fingers on her right hand were drumming lightly against the armrest of her chair.

"Oh thank goodness I landed here with you, Princess Mukuro!" Botan gushed. "I was so frightened that I might land somewhere dangerous!"

Mukuro's eyes became thinner still and her lips parted just enough to show a glint of tightly clenched teeth.

"I know I'm not supposed to be here," Botan continued. "But I simply had to come. I was going to visit spirit world, but I couldn't because Lord Koenma was so angry, if I had returned there, he would have hunted me down and had me arrested for sure, but then Lord Koenma came to living world, so it was safe for me to sneak back into spirit world, so then I came here and… Oh, wait, if Lord Koenma is in living world, it really was safe for me to sneak back into spirit world, so why didn't I do that instead…?"

"Well at least you've got one thing right: you're not supposed to be here," Mukuro growled. "And I'll say this once more and once more only: I'm not a morning person."

"That's fascinating because I'm not a night person," Botan replied obliviously. "I can rise as early as the sun and feel refreshed and chipper and ready for the world, but I get so cranky when I have to stay up past my bed-time!"

"What are you doing here?" Mukuro yelled. "How did you even get here? We received communication that all ferry girls had been securely detained within spirit world, so why are you here in demon world talking at me when the sun is still rising and I ought to still be asleep?"

"Well I suppose I came to find Hiei, really," Botan replied.

Mukuro sat back, eying Botan over curiously.

"I don't understand you at all, but I don't want to either," she said quietly. "But here's something you need to understand: demon world is in the grips of widespread panic, and an efficient little healer like you won't last five minutes outside this room without proper protection."

"I don't intend to stay long, I just came to ask Hiei a question," Botan said.

"Hiei isn't able to answer any questions right now," Mukuro replied. "But hopefully he will be soon. Since you are here, I'll make a deal with you: if you use your powers to make me immune to the disease so that I can move freely about demon world again, and if you also cure all the sick in my basement, I will personally escort you back to your own realm. I won't harm you as long as you do as I ask, and I will provide you with anything you need while you work – within reason, obviously."

"I'd like to ask Hiei about the three magic words."

"The three magic…? Okay, well, once you've healed Hiei I'll make sure he answers your questions for you."

"I have to heal Hiei?"

"Yes."

"Do you know where he is right now?"

"He's in a healing tank in my basement."

"No he's not."

"Yes he is."

"No he's not. He's on a mission with Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama."

"That's impossible. Hiei is critically ill, and only alive because I knocked him unconscious and threw his ass into a healing chamber ten days ago!"

"He's not there now."

"Yes he is!"

"Oh no he isn't."

"Oh yes he is!"

"Oh no he isn't – this is getting a little bit like a pantomime, isn't it? I love pantomimes, especially – ah!"

Botan yelped out as Mukuro grabbed her arm and dragged her to her feet. She stumbled helplessly after the S Class demon, who marched briskly through a series of dark and eerie hallways and then down a flight of stairs, barely caring when Botan fell against her back several times on the way down. At the end of the staircase, they continued along a short, dark corridor and into a large room, illuminated by the green glow of twenty healing tanks, all occupied by the still, floating bodies of sick demons, who looked strangely peaceful in the bubbling liquid.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Mukuro grumbled. "But since you're clearly the sort of stubborn fool who only accepts facts presented in front of her – which is ironic, considering that you are an ambassador for an afterlife that requires blind faith from humans in living world in order for it to exist – here you can see that Hiei is in a healing tank, unconscious and very sick."

Mukuro finally stopped walking and Botan staggered to a halt at her side. As they both looked up at the tank in front of them, one smiled knowingly and the other stared in horror.

"That's impossible…"

"I told you so."

"He made quite a mess breaking out of there, didn't he?"

Botan turned to Mukuro expectantly, but Mukuro ignored her, approaching the darkened, shattered tank for herself. She reached her flesh hand into the base, dragging her fingers along the floor of the tank.

"It's still wet, he can't have been gone long," she concluded aloud.

"Eight days," Botan said.

"What?" Mukuro echoed, turning to her in disbelief.

"Eight days," Botan repeated. "He arrived in living world eight days ago."

Mukuro shook her head and crossed the room, accosting an unsuspecting medic who happened to be entering the basement at that moment. He yelped as she bunched her fists around his shirt, wincing in anticipation of his own annihilation.

"Where is Hiei?" Mukuro growled at him.

"I-I'm sorry Sir!" the medic stuttered nervously. "He broke out! I tried to tell him he had to stay because he was too sick to leave, but he wouldn't listen to me!"

"Did he say where he was going?" she asked.

"Living world," the medic and Botan replied in unison.

Mukuro glanced back at Botan, some of her cynicism towards the ferry girl easing.

"When did he leave?" she asked.

"Eight days ago," Botan said again.

"About an hour ago," the medic said.

"What?" Botan and Mukuro echoed, both as shocked as the other.

* * *

"Would you like a drink of water?"

"Yes, thank you."

Kurama took the flask being offered to him and took a long drink from it before realising what had just happened. He slowly lowered the flask, frowning down at it as he swallowed the contents of his mouth. It tasted like exceptionally pure water, but that made no sense since the only water remaining on the tank was not drinkable. And, more importantly, he had been handed the flask by an inexplicably bright, cheerful and refreshed Hiei.

"Where did you get this?" Kurama asked, watching Hiei from the corner of his eye.

"The… The water tank?" Hiei replied, his expression faltering slightly.

"The water tank is broken, the contents gone to waste," Kurama pointed out. "Where did you get this?"

"The poitin…" Hiei replied in a small voice.

"But… It tastes pure…"

"Yes, well, I extracted the water from the alcohol. Yusuke told me the water tank was broken, and I thought we had more need to have fresh water onboard than palatable alcohol, so I opened all the bottles of poitin onboard and separated the water content from them to give us all fresh water to drink."

"…How did you do that?"

"I used a… Special… Distillation process…"

"What sort of distillation process?"

"Fractional freezing. I chilled the bottles until the water froze and the alcohol separated from it, then I drained the alcohol off and defrosted the remaining ice into pure water."

Kurama looked down at the flask again.

"Where did you learn about fractional freezing?" he asked. "I understand the process, but I had no idea you would."

"Well, I learned it from someone I knew when I was a child," Hiei slowly replied.

Kurama smiled then, finally feeling a little more at ease.

"Of course," he said. "The bandits who raised you probably practised fractional freezing quite regularly. It's a common trick amongst poor men to make themselves a more stringent alcoholic drink: they purchase cheap liquor and freeze off the water to leave behind the alcohol concentrate. Well remembered."

"Oh, thank you."

Hiei carefully picked his way over to one side of the cabin, sitting down on a pile of shredded blankets there, his hands clasped around a flask.

"You must be feeling very poorly," Kurama said. "I'm surprised you had the energy to distil the water as you did."

"I feel alright now," Hiei replied. "I was sick when I woke up, but after some water and a shower I felt fine."

"You must have been dehydrated, I'm surprised you don't have a headache and a bad attitude to go with it," Kurama pointed out.

"I don't get dehydrated easily," Hiei calmly replied. "I've trained myself to do without many things. It's part of the culture of my… Um…"

"It's part of the culture of the ice maidens," Kurama finished for him. "They train themselves to abstain from everything, and as such, can endure. It's what they do so that they are more resilient to torture, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's to stop us from shedding tears readily if ever we are imprisoned and tortured for such a purpose."

"Us? Don't you mean them?"

"Yes. No. Wait, what did I say?"

Kurama turned his attention from the road long enough to glare at Hiei, who looked increasingly guilty as he watched him.

"Hiei, other than the first taste of poitin, did you drink any alcohol last night?" Kurama asked as he turned his attention back to the road.

"Yes, I did," Hiei replied. "I know, it was wrong, I drank far too much, I don't even remember how I got to bed last night–"

"I think you do," Kurama interrupted him.

"Excuse me?"

"I think you do remember. I think you remember everything, because I think you were sober. It's not possible for you to be this well-recovered – unless Yusuke's hair-brained theory about you turning into an ice maiden were somehow correct – and so I think you're fine now because you were never drunk in the first place. I think you faked it."

"What?"

"I think you faked it as an excuse to say things you could conveniently claim to forget the next morning. You used that poitin as an excuse to gauge my reaction to your words."

"…What words?"

Kurama slammed on the brakes, curses and cries greeting his action. Once the vehicle had come to a complete halt, Kurama pulled on the parking brake and got out of the chair, moving across the cabin to stand over Hiei, who had barely managed to hold himself in place on his makeshift seat.

"And since you are sober, you can take your turn at the wheel," Kurama growled down at him.

Hiei leaned his head back to look Kurama in the eye.

"What will you do?" he asked.

"I'm going to try to do something about this," Kurama replied, pointing a finger at one of the furry ears on his head.

"Like what?" Hiei asked, standing up abruptly.

"Like try to reverse the transformation, of course."

Hiei looked slightly surprised, but quickly hid his feelings again.

"What did you think my intentions were?" Kurama asked.

"I don't know, I was just curious," Hiei replied, turning his head downwards to avoid looking directly at Kurama.

"You don't trust me in this form," Kurama said. "You think I want to break into the ice maidens' stronghold and ravage my way through each and every one of them, don't you?"

"No!" Hiei quickly replied, his eyes meeting Kurama's suddenly. "I know you're a man of honour, and you would never do such a thing!"

Kurama narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"You remember nothing of our conversation last night?" he asked quietly.

Hiei shook his head.

"I asked you a very important question last night," Kurama pressed. "After studying your behaviour lately, I have a drawn a conclusion about what has been the real cause for your recent change in behaviour, and last night, I asked you whether my assumption was right or wrong."

Hiei's eyes doubled in since and he gulped audibly.

"Wh-what did I say?" he asked.

"The ice maidens are all lesbians, I just saw one knuckle-deep into third base with another one!"

Kurama and Hiei slowly turned their heads to the doorway, where Yusuke was grinning at them like a child in a sweet shop, one hand holding up a small glass object.

"Check this out," he said, pointing at the object with his free hand. "Botan gives me this crap every time we go on a mission, and usually I never bother with it, but I just found the ultimate use for the Psychic Spyglass: with this little baby, I can see right through those walls and into the bedrooms, and I saw two ice maidens naked in bed together!"

Kurama straightened up and drew a breath to warn Yusuke to discontinue with such behaviour, but before he could warn Yusuke verbally, Hiei reacted physically, crossing the room and snatching the Psychic Spyglass from Yusuke.

"Hey!" Yusuke complained.

"How dare you violate their privacy like that?" Hiei yelled at him.

"Hiei's right Yusuke, no matter how we may feel about those women now, we must at least uphold a basic duty of care to them while they are onboard this vehicle with us," Kurama concurred. "And that includes respecting their privacy."

"How long have you been using this device to spy on other people?" Hiei asked, shaking the Psychic Spyglass in front of Yusuke's face.

"I just discovered it, calm down!" Yusuke replied.

"You can't do things like that, it's incredibly indecent of you!"

"Okay, Hime!"

"You could really hurt someone!"

"What?"

"How many more of these do you have?"

"There only is one, and you're holding it!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! That's the only one in the whole of spirit world!"

Hiei moved his eyes to the Psychic Spyglass, his chest heaving from his laboured breathing.

"Where's Kuwabara?" he asked quietly.

"He went back to bed," Yusuke replied. "He's got a hangover now."

"As will you shortly," Kurama warned. "You might want to consider using the hair of the dog technique to ease the inevitable when it does occur."

"What? "Hair of the dog"? Isn't that like some kinda karma sutra thing where you bend over and stick your–"

Yusuke stopped talking abruptly as Hiei threw down the Psychic Spyglass and stomped the heel of his boot into the centre of it, shattering it.

"Uh, I don't think you should've done that, Hiei," Yusuke said in a low voice. "Koenma made that thing, and he gets really pissy if I even get fingerprints on the lens…"

"It's too dangerous to keep a tool like that," Hiei quietly replied, grinding his heel into the ground, the shattered shards snapping into even smaller pieces.

"Right…" Yusuke said slowly. "So anyway, why did we stop?"

"It's Hiei's turn to drive," Kurama replied.

Hiei looked up at him blankly.

"Follow the directions on the navigator," Kurama instructed him. "Drive at top speed, don't stop for anything. We want this over before nightfall. We'll stay in Arbeinia tonight and tomorrow at dawn we leave for spirit world."

"I might not come to spirit world with you," Hiei said.

"Why the hell not?" Yusuke demanded. "Are you still sulking with Koenma because he swapped your jacket for a Hello Kitty raincoat the last time you came to living world?"

"No, it's just that my business will be done once the ice maidens have been returned home," Hiei calmly replied. "I have no need to continue on to spirit world with you. I would rather go to Mukuro's headquarters and help in any way I can to cure the sick there."

"Hey, we helped you free the sisterhood of the frigid ice queens, the least you could do is help us get Fabio out of spirit world!" Yusuke snapped.

"If Hiei wants to return home after today then let him do so," Kurama said. "Hopefully he will use the opportunity to get himself cured, and I don't think his assistance will be instrumental in our pending duties in spirit world."

"He owes us for all this crap!"

"The three of us will manage perfectly well without Hiei."

Yusuke and Kurama turned to Hiei, expecting him to be irate at Kurama's last remark; but instead he nodded, his expression almost ridiculously neutral.

"Thank you for understanding," he said quietly.

He ground his heel into the remains of the Psychic Spyglass one last time before moving over to the driver's chair. Kurama continued on towards the back of the vehicle, leaving Yusuke standing by the doorway feeling slightly confused: he was sure he was missing something somewhere.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Koenma, Keiko and Shizuru try to figure out what Botan is up to, Botan and Mukuro strike a deal with each other, and Yusuke's hangover finally hits – but he doesn't have long to dwell on it, as Tsubara has a proposition for the team and a revelation that leaves Hiei reeling. **Chapter 22 – Transcending Nepotism**


	22. Transcending Nepotism

**Chapter 22: Transcending Nepotism**

"Can't you stop that damn noise?" Yusuke moaned, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Just make it stop!"

"I'm not making the noise," Hiei calmly replied, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Every time you go over a bump in the road, it goes "geshnurkle"!" Yusuke complained.

"And the rest of the time it just goes "gareeka-gareeka"," Kuwabara added.

"It's been making that noise since we were attacked yesterday," Hiei reminded them. "The wheel axle is broken, remember?"

"Does it have to be so damn noisy?" Yusuke growled.

"Can't it make the noises in the same pattern?" Kuwabara asked. "I don't mind the noises so much, but when it breaks the pattern my head hurts."

"The two of you don't have to sit up here with me," Hiei pointed out.

"Yeah we do," Yusuke replied. "Kurama is upstairs doing something really weird with plants and that snowbaby keeps screaming in the back. This is the only place where things are quiet."

"There's a baby crying?" Hiei asked, looking back over one shoulder at the door.

The vehicle quivered slightly as his hands moved with his head, momentarily jerking them off course. Yusuke and Kuwabara groaned and Hiei quickly turned back to face the road ahead.

"Why is the baby crying?" he asked.

"I don't know, but I wish someone would shut it up already," Yusuke muttered.

Hiei drummed his fingers against the steering wheel and wriggled uneasily in his seat.

"We're nearly there," he said, glancing at the navigation screen. "I think we should arrive in Arbeinia in about two hours. We probably shouldn't go directly into the city though. What do you think, Yusuke?"

Hiei turned to Yusuke, who stared back at him from his position sitting on the floor of the cabin with Kuwabara.

"What do I think about what?" he asked.

"Weren't you listening?" Hiei asked.

"Come on Hiei, give me a break!" Yusuke groaned. "All I can hear right now is geshnurkle, gareeka-gareeka, wah-wah, plants growing and a high-pitching whining sound in the back of my brain!"

"You can hear plants growing?" Kuwabara asked.

"On the top deck," Yusuke replied.

Kuwabara groaned and dropped his face into his hands.

"I need Kurama," Hiei sighed. "He always knows what to do…"

Hiei began drumming his fingers against the steering wheel again, oblivious to the dark looks his actions earned him from Yusuke. After several minutes more of Kuwabara groaning, Yusuke growling, Hiei drumming his fingers, the vehicle creaking and metal grinding against metal and the faint sound of a distressed baby crying, Kurama entered the cabin, once more in his human form and looking considerably calmer and more like his usual self.

"Hey," Yusuke greeted him. "Hiei said he needs you."

Kurama's face twitched at Yusuke's words and he turned his head sharply to glare at the back of Hiei's chair.

"I-I just wanted to know if it would be alright to drive directly into the city or not," Hiei said nervously.

"Never mind about that for now," Kurama softly replied, approaching the console as he spoke.

"But…"

Hiei watched Kurama from the corner of his eye as the redhead leaned over the console and peered out the windows as though expecting to see something.

"Are we being followed?" Hiei asked. "Or is someone waiting for us in Arbeinia?"

"Neither, as far as I am aware," Kurama replied. "I was looking for a suitable place to park off the road."

"Why are we stopping?" Yusuke called over.

"The ice maidens have asked us to join them in the back of the vehicle before we return to Arbeinia," Kurama replied. "They want to tell us something."

Kurama frowned slightly as he saw the colour visibly drain from Hiei's face.

"What-what do they want to talk about?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know yet," Kurama replied. "Do you?"

Hiei shook his head, but something about the panicked strain in Hiei's eyes told Kurama that the fire demon was hiding something: and maybe the ice maidens knew exactly what it was.

* * *

Shizuru threw down her coat and sat down just as Keiko entered the room carrying a tray of tea.

"I got here as quickly as I could," Shizuru said.

"Thank you, I appreciate it," Koenma said, nodding his head at her from across the room.

Keiko placed the tray of tea down onto the low table and sat down on the couch beside Shizuru, facing Koenma who was sitting tensely in the armchair opposite them.

"I'm sorry to call you both here like this," he began. "But this is an emergency, and I can't reach Yusuke or Botan."

"Why can't you reach Yusuke?" Keiko asked.

"I tried calling him earlier today, and he seemed a little distracted," Koenma replied. "He spoke gibberish, hung up on me and then switched off his communicator, and now I can't call him back."

"Do you think he's in trouble?" Keiko asked.

"No, but I know Botan is, which I why I need your help. I've already figured out that you have Botan's communicator, and without it, I can't reach her myself."

"Oops…"

"She wouldn't answer it when you tried to call her before," Shizuru explained. "I took it because I thought I could use it to call my idiot brother and ask him what he was really up to, but then I realised that I don't actually know how it works."

"Well, there's not much we can do about it now," Koenma said. "But hopefully the two of you can at least help me figure this out: Botan borrowed this book from the spirit world library about three weeks ago."

Koenma lifted up the book in question to allow Keiko and Shizuru to read the title before again employing Yusuke's trick to find the relevant chapter. He then placed the book down onto the table, turning it around to allow the girls to view it the right way up.

"It's a book of spells?" Keiko asked.

"Not exactly," Koenma replied. "It's a book of talisman combinations that was outlawed many centuries ago, long before the language they are written in was forgotten. The wards in there are far more powerful and much more dangerous if misused than the modern talismans we use nowadays."

"What has Botan done now?" Shizuru asked.

"That's what worries me," Koenma said. "You see, the book keeps opening at that page, as though she was studying that specific chapter. And I found these lying around the temple."

Koenma laid a pile of papers on the table, spreading them out to allow Keiko and Shizuru to clearly see the contents of each page. Both girls sat forwards and picked up a piece of paper each.

"Botan drew these," Keiko said. "We saw her do it."

"She said an evil magic bubble made her do it," Shizuru added.

Koenma screwed up his face and Shizuru smiled.

"That's exactly how I felt when she told me that," she said.

"Well, evil magic bubbles aside, cross-referencing the symbols Botan drew against those in the book, it appears as though she has been working on two specific talisman combinations," Koenma continued. "One of them I can understand her using – it's a sort of blocker, something she might use to keep herself hidden if I was to go looking for her. But the second one, the more powerful of the two, is not something a ferry girl would have any use for."

"What is the second one?" Keiko asked.

"It's a power distortion trick," Koenma replied. "It's usually used by a demon. It cancels out the signals typically emitted by a demon that indicate what sort of demon he is."

"What sort of demon?" Shizuru asked. "So you mean if Kurama used it, he wouldn't appear to be a fox any more?"

"It would scramble his energy signal, basically," Koenma said. "Rendering tools like the Demon Compass useless. Botan doesn't have a specific power, so she would have no need to use it. I think she's misunderstood what the talisman does."

"What's the worst that could happen if she is using this talisman?" Keiko asked.

"That's the problem: I don't know. I've never studied these old-style runes because nobody uses them any more. I really only called you here because I had to know if you thought Botan might, for some reason, want to disguise herself somehow. She wrote a comment in the library check-sheet about wanting to go an "adventure". Is there a chance she might have used these talismans to disguise herself and attempt to join the boys in their fight in demon world?"

Keiko and Shizuru exchanged worried looks.

"I see," Koenma said, nodding solemnly. "So my worst fear is a reality: Botan has done something insurmountably stupid, and is probably in a terribly dangerous place right now."

* * *

"You have such lovely hair, Princess Mukuro."

"I'm not a princess, please stop calling me one."

"It looks red, but in the sunlight it shines with lovely golden highlights. What's your secret, Princess?"

"I'm not a princess."

"I've tried all sorts of conditioners, but I've never managed to get a shine like that."

"Are we nearly done here?"

"Done with what?"

Mukuro gritted her teeth and turned her head to look directly at Botan.

"Have you done what you need to?" she asked firmly. "Can I safely make contact with the sick without contracting the illness myself?"

"Oh yes, I did that ten minutes ago," Botan replied with a wave of her hand.

"If you did it ten minutes ago, why are we still sitting here?"

"We were just enjoying some girl-talk."

Mukuro growled and stood up abruptly, pinching at the bridge of her nose in the vain hope of staving off the migraine that seemed to be looming.

"Listen to me girl, and this time listen very carefully," she said tightly. "I just need you to use your powers on the sick here, and then I will take you back to the portal to living world, where you will track down Hiei and make sure you cure him too. My medics don't think that Hiei will last until sunrise tomorrow morning if he is not cured or returned to a healing chamber, so we don't have time to waste on frivolous matters. Is that clear?"

"Oh dear, yes, I understand," Botan said, nodding keenly. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise Hiei was so sick. He seemed fine the last time I saw him. Well, not fine, not his usual self at least, but he certainly didn't seem to be at death's door."

"Yes, well, are you still talking about the Hiei you saw four days ago?" Mukuro asked, turning back to face Botan.

"Yes," Botan replied.

"Even though I've already told you that Hiei was here four days ago?"

"Yes."

Mukuro sighed.

"Let's not waste any more time," she said decisively. "Follow me, we should tend to those in the basement."

Botan skipped after Mukuro as she began striding back through her fortress, aiming herself towards the basement full of sick demons.

"I have a question," Botan asked as they walked.

"I don't have time to answer it," Mukuro bluntly replied.

"You said you would give me anything I needed in return for my services here."

Mukuro inwardly cursed herself before grunting in a non-committal manner.

"Oh goody!" Botan said cheerfully. "So my question is this: what does Hiei prefer? Taramosalata or honey?"

"I know I'm going to hate myself for asking this, but I simply have to know: why?" Mukuro asked without breaking stride or looking back at the bubbly ferry girl.

"I have a plan," Botan replied. "But I can't decide between the two. One is quite smelly and the other is quite sticky, so I don't think I have to worry about practicality…"

Mukuro slowed to a halt inside the basement and turned to face Botan, flinching involuntarily as her eyes landed on her.

"When did you change your clothes?" she asked.

"Back there," Botan replied, pointing back over her shoulder. "I was wearing my adventuring clothes, but these are my tending the sick clothes."

"But we were walking fast the whole way, and you don't even have your other outfit with you… Never mind. How long do you think this will take you?"

"I will work as quickly as I can. For Hiei's sake."

Mukuro nodded and approached the nearest tank, hitting the switch to deactivate and drain it.

* * *

"It's freezing in here!" Yusuke hissed.

"I would have suggested we all wrap ourselves in a space blanket before coming here, but, rather unfortunately, someone destroyed all the blankets last night," Kurama whispered back to him.

"Where is everyone?" Kuwabara whispered.

"Just watch where you put your feet," Kurama reminded him.

Kurama was walking along the frozen over metal walkway that ran the length of the sleeping quarters of the vehicle with Yusuke, Kuwabara and finally Hiei behind him. The doors on either side of them were all closed, though they were barely noticeable as every surface was coated with crystallised ice, including the walkway beneath their feet. Kurama had stolen Kuwabara's drunken suggestion of the night before and taken a bag of salt from the supplies closet, which he was sprinkling out ahead of himself to help break up the ice a little to give their feet something to grip to as they walked. The door to the compartment had been open when they had approached in anticipation of their arrival, but there had not been anyone there waiting to greet them. Kurama already knew that the entire village had probably chosen to gather in the luggage bay at the very back of the vehicle, a room that was big enough to comfortably fit fifty-six bodies.

And, after just a few steps more, Kurama reached the steps down to the luggage bay, and found himself facing a roomful of pale woman dressed in fine, handmade silk kimonos, all watching him warily.

He let out a shuddering breath and tightened his grip of the bag of salt. The smell of the ice village flowers was so strong he could taste it in the back of his throat, and he could not help but notice the way some of the young adult women were eying him over in an almost appreciative manner. He tried to keep his thoughts focused on the negatives, and, as he exhaled again, he was reminded of one thing he had always found disconcerting about the ice maidens: his own breath billowed from his lips in a cloud of condensation as warm air met cold, but the ice maidens never had that problem. Apparently even air they had held in their bodies remained ice cold.

Kurama found himself briefly wondering if that meant that the inside of their mouths were cool too, and again he had to fight to remain focused. He scanned the room until he located the unstable elder he had encountered naked the night before, finding that the sight of her did at least help him regain some degree of self-control.

"We don't typically associate or collaborate with other races on anything," Tsubara said. "In fact, we don't ever associate or collaborate with other races, but, in this instance, it's clear that we have used and needed your assistance. Whilst some of us may have escaped and returned home regardless, I know that most of the number you see before you would not have managed to flee without your help."

"Perhaps this humbling experience should serve as a lesson to you all," Kurama suggested.

"We have never welcomed anyone into our village," Tsubara continued. "It's not our way."

"Hey lady, if your village is even half as cold as this room, we don't want to go anywhere near it!" Yusuke said over Kurama's shoulder.

Kurama carefully made his way down the steps to allow Yusuke to see over the top of his head. Yusuke and Kuwabara leaned to opposite sides of the walkway, affording themselves a better view of the room beyond and blocking out Hiei completely.

"However, we understand that you have made fugitives of yourselves in your endeavours to help us, and so now we feel obliged to help you," Tsubara said, ignoring Yusuke's comment.

"You are not obliged to do anything," Kurama corrected her. "We don't expect anything from you. We did not lend our assistance with the expectation of receiving any form of payment for our services."

"We will allow you to enter our village when we return," Tsubara replied. "You may stay one night. After that, you must leave."

"That's not much of a reward, you old hag!" Yusuke complained.

"So you do seek compensation for your efforts?" Tsubara asked him.

Yusuke grinned, his eyes wandering over to a pair of young ice maidens who were holding hands.

"No," Kurama quickly said before Yusuke could suggest something that was likely to be incitement to riot. "We don't want anything from you, and I don't think it would be appropriate for us to enter your village, far less to spend the night there."

"You will be required to enter the village when you return us there, you might as well stay," Tsubara said.

"Oh, I get it!" Yusuke said, turning from the girls to their leader. "You need us to come back there with you! You're too scared to go back there alone in case there's a trap waiting there for you! You need our protection, but you're too damn stubborn to admit it!"

"Your obnoxious and smelly male servant needs to be taught some manners," Tsubara told Kurama.

"Who the hell are you calling obnoxious?" Yusuke snapped.

"He raises an interesting point though," Kurama said to Tsubara. "Is he correct? Is this "favour" you are offering us actually just a thinly veiled disguise for what is perhaps a desperate cry for a help, an admittance of your own weaknesses?"

"You talk very bravely for a fox demon facing an entire clan of women his kind has wronged many times over in the past," Tsubara coldly replied.

"Fox demon?" Mizore echoed.

"His?" another ice maiden said. "She's a man?"

"One of the foibles of my people is their naivety it's true," Tsubara said. "But we are not fools. You will need a place to hide just as much as the weaker amongst my people will need your assistance to return home."

"So I was right all along," Yusuke said. "You bitches aren't grateful, you're just using us!"

"We are not without honour," Tsubara replied. "We believe that some might think that we are indebted to you, and, as such, I am willing to offer a reward to you. What is it that you want from us? Tears?"

"I don't care about getting your tears, but I wouldn't mind being the reason you cried them!" Yusuke growled.

"There is one thing you could give us," Kurama said, holding up a hand by his shoulder to warn Yusuke to remain silent. "We would like a moment with Rui."

Silence filled the room and Kurama could not help but notice the way Tsubara's expression shifted almost imperceptibly into a look of mild amusement. Behind him he heard Hiei pushing past Kuwabara and Yusuke to stand at the top of the steps behind him. Kurama tensed slightly as all the ice maidens moved their eyes to Hiei and the air became noticeably colder in an instant.

"Where is she?" Hiei asked quietly.

He started down the steps, his eyes desperately scanning the ice maidens in the room. As he reached the floor below he stumbled slightly and Kurama instinctively caught his arm to hold him steady – he had probably forgotten how slippery the ice was without any salt to break it up.

"She's not here," Hiei concluded, his eyes resting on Tsubara. "Where is she?"

"We are missing several of our people," Tsubara replied. "Some were killed trying to escape, some were worked to death. We've accounted for everyone. Those who stand before you now are all that remains of our clan."

Hiei covered his mouth with a shaking hand and shook his head.

"Rui perished?" Kurama asked.

"I can't confirm or deny that," Tsubara replied.

"What do you mean?" Kurama pressed.

"I take great care, as the supreme leader of my clan, to protect my people, fox," she said. "And so, when some of my number made their most recent visit to demon world and encountered trouble, I did what I had to do to ensure their safety."

"You closed off the village because Rui was abducted by cruel men!" Hiei said suddenly, pointing an accusing finger at Tsubara. "She was in trouble and needed your help, but you shut her out!"

"Don't be so dramatic, child," the elder calmly replied. "A particularly troublesome and persistent fox demon managed to follow my girls back to our village. He was the first outside of our clan to enter the village for many centuries, a determined and ambitious monster. He wanted to take one of my girls, and I refused."

"What did he want an ice maiden for?" Kurama asked.

"I thought you said fox demons just wanted ice maidens for sex?" Yusuke said.

Kurama and Hiei both turned to sharply scowl at Yusuke, who recoiled fearfully.

"Sorry!" he hurriedly apologised.

"He wanted to build a gateway from demon world to spirit world, a direct link between the two realms, and he said he already had demons in his employ who could perform such a task, as well as an army who would help him advance into spirit world and enact the details of his plan once he got there."

Kurama and Hiei turned back to Tsubara abruptly.

"Fumio came to your village before he created the gateway to spirit world?" Kurama asked. "You knew about this before it happened? Why didn't you report it to Enki?"

"Demon world affairs are not my business," she casually replied.

"But that gateway unleashed a terrible virus on all of demon world!" Hiei pointed out. "And that virus was the reason you and everyone else from the ice village were taken prisoner!"

"You were part of the cause, you ought to have been part of the solution!" Kurama added.

"The fox mentioned the possibility of an illness resulting from his gateway," Tsubara replied. "That was why he wanted one of my girls. He wanted a young and pretty girl who could protect him and his men from falling ill, and, when he felt like it, she could satiate his darker needs too. I told him I wouldn't hand over one of my pure and virtuous girls, but that he was welcome to take the filthy one who turned her back on us: Yukina."

Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara all turned to Hiei, who was shaking his head, his mouth moving soundlessly.

"Yukina's mother was filthy too," Tsubara continued, watching Hiei through thinned eyes darkened with disgust. "We had a name for her: Hina the whore."

Hiei lunged forwards but Kurama caught him by the arms before he could reach Tsubara.

"The truth can be difficult, can't it?" Tsubara asked him.

"You sent Fumio after Yukina?" Kurama asked. "We haven't seen her in over a week, no-one has. Does that mean she's with Fumio?"

"You see girls, these men and that fox know Yukina personally," Tsubara said, looking around her fellow ice demons. "These lawless creatures are the sort Yukina has chosen to bed with."

"Bed with?" Hiei echoed, his voice almost breaking. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't let her provoke you," Kurama whispered to him, pulling him back against his chest. "Is Yukina with Fumio, Tsubara?" he asked the elder.

"Obviously not," Tsubara replied, her tone more sarcastic than seemed necessary to Kurama. "He thought we were trying to trick him when we told him to go to living world and take Yukina, he didn't believe that an ice maiden would wander so far from her natural habitat. He refused to leave, and so I did the next best thing that I could: since he would not take away my people's biggest disgrace, I made sure that he took its biggest disappointment: I gave him Rui."

Hiei made a small squeaking noise, one hand slapping against his chest. Kurama released him and leaned forwards to see if he was alright, as he appeared to be choking. He looked as though he was suffocating, and, after a few seconds of his silent struggle, Rikka stepped forwards from the ice maidens and held out a paper bag towards him. Hiei gladly grabbed it from her and pressed it to his mouth, breathing into it in the same way Rikka had done when Kurama and Hiei had first found her.

"So, with fourteen dead from our recent struggles, Rui in spirit world and Yukina… Behaving as despicably as any child of Hina the whore could be expected to, everyone is accounted for," Tsubara concluded. "Now going back to my offer: the three of you – fox, human and the smelly one – may stay the night in our village. I will concede to allow this disgrace to our people to sleep on the rough ground beyond the village perimeter, but I won't have it any closer to any of my good and decent girls. You three men may sleep in one of the empty houses, there will be a few after our losses this week."

"Screw you, old lady!" Yusuke snorted. "You let us all stay, or none of us will!"

"Yeah!" Kuwabara agreed. "And besides, we're not friends with anyone who would betray Yukina like that!"

"We'd rather not stay in your village," Kurama said. "We will make our own arrangements. We will escort you back there, but after that, we must continue on our way."

"In that case I have no more to say to you," Tsubara said before snatching the paper bag from Hiei.

Hiei continued breathing heavily, his face twitching in agitation and his eyes staring unblinkingly at her. Kurama frowned slightly as he noticed then for the first time that Hiei, unlike Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara, did not create little clouds of steam when he exhaled – which was unusual, because the air was bitterly cold and a fire demon like Hiei's breathing ought to be creating an even more dramatic effect than Kurama's, Yusuke's or Kuwabara's were. But, just like the ice maidens, Hiei's breath was invisible.

"I got something more to say to you," Yusuke began. "First of all, I saw those two in the corner finger fu–"

"Yusuke!" Kurama hissed, cutting him off. "Let's just finish this."

"Right!" Yusuke agreed.

Kuwabara and Yusuke turned around and began back along the walkway. Kurama took hold of Hiei's shoulders, turning him around and pushing up the steps ahead of himself. Hiei felt cold and tense to the touch, but his feet moved with surprising ease back along the icy walkway. Kurama resisted the urge to look back as they left, closing the door behind himself and feeling less than surprised when he saw it start to freeze over as soon as it had clicked into place. He shook his head and turned his attention back to Hiei, who was leaning against the wall, one hand covering his eyes the other arm wrapped around his waist.

"We'll get your friend back," Kurama assured him. "Fumio won't have killed her, she's too useful to him. And when we do recover her, she doesn't have to return to the ice village, she could stay at Genkai's temple with Yukina. I'm sure she would be happy there, and she would definitely be safe there."

"I don't know what to do…" Hiei whispered, keeping his head down. "I'm so confused. I have to get to Mukuro, I have to help cure him, but I want to find Rui and take her to safety as soon as I can!"

Kurama nodded, touching a hand to Hiei's shoulder.

"Look, I know you're concerned about the sick in Mukuro's healing chambers, but remember what Jin told us: he said their condition doesn't deteriorate as long as they are in the chambers," Kurama reminded his friend. "So although they will not be cured, they won't get any worse no matter how long they are left there. They are safe there for now, so you can come to spirit world with us and defeat Fumio and recover Rui. You can return home after that."

"I can't ever return home."

"Not to the ice village, I meant your new home, the home you've made for yourself now, where you do have people who actually care about you."

"It's my fault Rui has suffered. She's suffered so much, and it's all my fault!"

"Look, let me drive us the rest of the way, we can offload the ice maidens, return them to their habitat, and then we can get some rest, which I think we all need. Go and have a drink of water and try to relax for now."

Kurama started to move on, intending to take his place at the controls of the vehicle and finish their journey, but he stopped abruptly as something hit the walkway with a light clatter. He looked down, watching curiously as a glittering and perfectly round little hiruiseki rolled along the ground before coming to rest against the side of his foot. He glanced at Hiei to be sure that the fire demon was not watching before crouching down to retrieve the gem. A quick examination revealed the sort of hiruiseki that would fetch an exceptionally high price in demon world because it had been formed from a tear shed in total despair. The quality of the stones was directly related to how hurt the woman crying them was, and, in this instance, it was obvious that Hiei was deeply, deeply upset.

Kurama had always wondered if Hiei would produce hirui stones when he cried, but he had never expected to ever find out for sure, since Hiei claimed that he had never shed a tear, and it had never seemed likely that he ever would.

"We'll get her back, I promise," Kurama said softly.

Hiei took a step away from the wall and Kurama turned fully towards him. They both made a few awkward movements, both avoiding looking directly at the other, before colliding with each other and somehow becoming tangled in a desperate and slightly awkward embrace. Hiei hugging him drunk had been almost forgettable to Kurama, but a sober, tearful Hiei wilfully hugging him was something else entirely. Kurama was torn between the strangely comforting feeling of holding his friend and the disturbing idea that Hiei had gone insane and may never go back to being his old self again. And he still had a worrying feeling that Hiei was harbouring deeper feelings for him, feelings that he could not return. Their relationship seemed as though it would never be the same again, and Kurama began to wonder if he might have to break all ties with Hiei for both their sakes: but just then Yusuke stumbled across them hugging, and Hiei abruptly broke away from Kurama, turning his head from him.

"Let's go already!" Yusuke said.

"Right," Kurama agreed. "I'll drive the rest of the way. Hiei, you could…"

Kurama looked about himself, but Hiei had disappeared.

"It looked like he was going up to the top deck," Yusuke said when Kurama looked his way. "Worry about him later, let's just dump our load first."

Kurama paused to see if Yusuke would turn his last words into a joke, and when he did not, Kurama was reminded of the gravity of the situation, and he hurried onwards to take control of the vehicle once more.

* * *

The steps up to the temple had never looked so steep, and there seemed to be a lot more of them than there ever had been before. The sky was still blue, but it was becoming that shade of azure that warned of the imminent approach of sunset and ultimately nightfall. Nightfall in the forest meant darkness that even a full moon would do little to compensate for, and darkness would only make the task ahead all the more difficult.

Hiei took a deep breath and climbed two more steps before stopping again. He tensed briefly and then leaned over one side of the steps and vomited. He spat and dragged the back of his bandaged hand across his lips, eying the mess he had made curiously. He could not remember the last time he had eaten a solid meal, and as such he wondered how it was still possible that he could have anything in his stomach to throw up. What he had brought up was really just a sticky green mess, and looked far less impressive than it had felt coming up. He grunted and forced himself onwards up the temple steps. He was not about to let a collection of stone blocks defeat him.

Ten steps later, Hiei stopped again. There was a very specific reason he was going up the steps, but unfortunately, it had temporarily escaped his mind. He looked up at the sky, watching a cloud pass over in the hope that his purpose might return to him if he waited there a little longer. He knew it must be something important, because it had been important enough for him to leave demon world, despite there being a desperate need for him to be there. He had come to living world to do something important and to do it as quickly as possible, but somewhere along the way he had drained what little energy he had and now found himself standing halfway up the steps to Genkai's temple feeling very confused and, as much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, very tired.

A bird flew overhead and Hiei managed a loose, half-smile as he suddenly remembered where he was going and why. He started up the steps again, glancing at the trees to one side of the steps as he climbed, watching for the right place to stop. Since falling ill – not that he had really been ill, because, of course, he was too strong to succumb to a stupid little infection – Hiei's jagan eye had been a little on the unreliable side, and a lot of what it had shown him recently had seemed too bizarre to be believable, and so, before he embarked on a murderous rampage of unquenchable wrath, he had decided to physically go to the one place his strange visions had been emanating from to literally confirm them. He was partly expecting to be proven wrong – or rather, he was desperately hoping to be proven wrong – though some of the things he had witnessed since did seem to suggest that his initial vision had been accurate.

Hiei finally sighted a broken, hollowed out tree, easily visible through the other trees because of the paler colour of its long dead trunk. He hopped from the steps to the forest floor and started through the trees, one foot inadvertently stepping into a deep pot-hole that offset his balance badly enough to leave him lying facedown in the dirt, one leg partly buried in dirt and roots. He growled and lifted his head, moving his arms around to push himself up. He saw the hollowed tree ahead of him blur as he started to push his shoulders up from the ground, and before he could fully lift his upper body his vision failed him entirely.

He was unconscious before his face hit the ground.

* * *

"What's his problem?" Kuwabara asked Kurama.

Kurama shook his head as they both watched Yusuke curse and kick at the back wheel of the tank.

"Apparently Hiei took off with Puu," Kurama eventually said. "And now we have to wait. It probably would have been quicker to have Puu fly the ice maidens back up to their village, despite the fact that it would have required several trips on his part. Without Puu, we now have to wait for the elders to create a walkway up there by freezing water particles in the air."

"How long is that gonna take?" Kuwabara asked.

"I don't know," Kurama replied.

Kuwabara nodded, before looking around their surroundings. They had travelled to the top of a mountain which looked alarmingly like a barely dormant volcano in order to get as close as possible to the floating ice village, which, without any ice maidens in it to shroud it in snowstorms, was plainly visible. Looking up at it was like watching an ocean liner from below: it looked far too bulky and heavy to remain afloat and yet somehow it did. The elders were generating cold winds and the sticky pool at the centre of the mountaintop was creating hot air, meaning that the temperature around where Kurama and Kuwabara were standing kept fluctuating according to which direction the cold winds took. Kurama had tried to explain to Yusuke and Kuwabara that there was a scientific reason for choosing a hot place to freeze the air, but neither of them had particularly paid any attention, least of all after Yusuke had discovered that Puu and Hiei were both gone.

"Yusuke, maybe you should call Koenma," Kurama called over to Yusuke. "Let him know we'll be arriving in spirit world tomorrow morning."

Yusuke nodded and marched over to join Kurama and Kuwabara. He retrieved his communication mirror from his pocket and flipped it open, pushing a button to call Koenma. After a brief pause George appeared in front of him, sitting at Koenma's desk with the prince's tall hat balanced on his head, neatly covering his horn and bald top.

"My Koenma, what big teeth you have," Yusuke said flatly.

George cleared his throat before answering him.

"Lord Koenma is currently out of the office, but if you would like to leave a message, he will attend to it as soon as he returns."

Yusuke started to growl in frustration and, sensing that he was about to become unpleasant, Kurama took the communicator from him.

"Where is Koenma?" he asked George.

"I can't answer that Kurama, sorry," George replied.

"Can't or won't?" Kurama asked.

"Can't," George answered. "I can't answer you because I don't know where he is. He didn't tell me where he was going before he left."

Kurama nodded his understanding.

"Alright, well, when he gets back, let him know that we are almost finished in demon world, and we expect to be in spirit world early tomorrow morning," he said.

"I will do," George replied.

Kurama snapped the communicator shut and held it out towards Yusuke, who made no attempt to take it back. He was looking up at something, and, by the look on the face and the feeling of the cold winds dying down behind him, Kurama already knew that it was not going to be something good. He slowly turned around and looked first at the elders of the ice village, finding them all standing still, their heads tilted back. He followed the direction they were looking and saw Puu struggling desperately in the air above the ice village, Hiei barely remaining balanced on his back. There was a length of rope caught around one of Puu's legs stopping him from escaping, and, following the rope back to its origin, Kurama found Enki's second-in-command holding onto it, and Enki standing at his side.

"This couldn't have possibly been simple, could it?" Yusuke grumbled.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** The team have a showdown with Enki over the fate of the ice maidens that leaves the ice maidens themselves divided, Koenma returns to spirit world and prepares for the team joining him there and Botan returns to living world where she makes a fortuitous discovery. And finally, in the heat of the moment, Hiei sees Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama in a way he had never expected – and possibly never really wanted to. **Chapter 23 – Terribly Naked**


	23. Terribly Naked

**A/N:** LONG CHAPTER IS LO-ONG…

* * *

 **Chapter 23: Terribly Naked**

Mukuro leaned forwards cautiously, peering down at the creature sprawled on the floor. There were only three demons still in healing tanks, the others having all been released and cured thanks to the ferry girl's assistance, but apparently she had reached the limit of her abilities and collapsed from exhaustion. She was snoring, so she was clearly not too badly worn-out, and, frankly, it was something of a relief not to have to listen to her prattle on about kittens and raindrops and all manner of other insignificant things that she delighted over far too readily.

"Should I move her to a bed?" Kirin offered.

"No, that won't be necessary," Mukuro replied. "Just let her rest as long a she needs to, she'll need her energy to heal the others and get to and heal Hiei."

Kirin nodded and left the room again. Realising that it was probably a bad idea to leave a ferry girl, dressed in a slightly sultry nurse's uniform, unconscious and vulnerable on the floor of a room frequented by demons with little or no scruples, Mukuro made the effort to collect a blanket from a nearby recovery bed and place it over Botan's sleeping form. Ordinarily she would have moved the girl to a bed, but moving her risked waking her, and waking her meant having to listen to her talk, which was always a painful experience: in fact, unconscious and silent, the ferry girl was almost tolerable.

Mukuro carefully tucked the blanket around Botan and then started towards the back of the room, intending to lie down on one of the recovery beds and get some rest herself: but before she reached her goal she realised she had not been so lucky as to escape waking the ferry girl.

"Princess Mukuro?"

Mukuro stopped, growled, tensed her shoulders and turned around.

"I'm sorry I feel asleep," Botan said to her as their eyes met.

"Rest if you need to," Mukuro replied. "If you work yourself to death, you'll be no use to anyone."

"Oh, you're so kind," Botan said. "Are you kind because you're a princess, or are you a princess because you're kind? I'm not really sure how things work here in demon world, I just wondered if you're kind because you are a fair princess or if you were made a princess because you are so kind–"

"Syrup," Mukuro cut her off. "Cherry-vanilla flavour. Not cherry flavour, not vanilla flavour, it has to be cherry-vanilla."

Botan blinked at her curiously and Mukuro found herself giving a small, wry smile.

"I think I understand what you want," she explained. "And you'd be wasting your time if you used taramosalata or honey. Use cherry-vanilla syrup."

"Oh," Botan said, a lazy smile growing on her still sleepy face. "Thank you very much, Princess."

Mukuro's smile vanished and she groaned.

"Just… Keep it far away from me," she added.

"Of course, Princess," Botan replied.

Mukuro started to correct Botan again on her title, but the ferry girl yawned, closed her eyes and rolled over onto her side, and so Mukuro stopped, deciding that it was better just to let her sleep: at least she was quiet when she slept.

* * *

"Someone remind me why we did all this in the first place?" Yusuke muttered.

"The kids," Kuwabara offered, pointing towards two young ice maidens who were hugging each other and staring up at the sky fearfully.

"We have to play this very carefully," Kurama warned them. "We can't fight our way out of this one, and, in light of what Tsubara told us earlier, the ice maidens aren't exactly an innocent party in any of this."

"I'm not exactly the president of the Subaru fan club right now, but if we just hand them all over to be used as slaves again, doesn't that sort of the defeat the purpose of everything we've been through in the last week?" Yusuke asked.

"Just stay calm," Kurama insisted. "This isn't a battle we will win with our fists."

Kurama glanced back and forth between Kuwabara and Yusuke, the lost expressions on each of their faces doing little to ease his concerns: he was, after all, talking to two individuals who solved the majority of their problems with their fists. He turned his attention back to the village overhead in time to see Enki and three of his closest advisors take to the air onboard flying eyeballs like those used during the demon world tournament. Puu was still being held in place, but he had managed to take hold of the rope in his beak and he was trying his hardest to chew threw it. The ice maidens all huddled together, strategically moving themselves behind Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara. The five elders who had been attempting to construct a physical connection from the mountaintop to the village had become still and quiet, but they did not leave their position. Enki and his men landed between the elders and the others and dismounted their rides.

"Get him down here," Enki said to one of his men, pointing up at Hiei as he spoke.

As his aide set about signalling to those still up in the village to pass down the rope tied to Puu, Enki turned his attention to Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara.

"What happened?" he asked. "I thought you came to me to have Hiei cured, so then why did you steal from me, attack my men and countless sick demons and take away the one effective cure we have for the virus?"

"We didn't come to you to have anyone cured," Kurama replied. "We came to you because we had witnessed the ice maidens being sold at auctions and treated poorly, and we wanted to report it to you. At the time, we had no idea that the auctions were your idea. We thought you were unaware of it and would disagree with the methods employed there."

"I see," Enki said, nodding his head. "None of you live in demon world permanently, so do any of you have any idea how devastating the virus has been in the last few weeks?"

"No," Kurama said. "We've seen some of the victims, but we haven't travelled far enough or spent long enough in any of the affected areas to really get an appreciation for how bad the situation is."

"The death-count is in the thousands."

Yusuke quietly cursed under his breath.

"Those ice maidens are the only way to stop the death-count reaching the tens of thousands," Enki continued. "When their abilities became public knowledge – after someone leaked the information to the press – I had to do what I could to control where they went, to make sure we had enough healers in the areas they were needed most. It maybe wasn't a very humane system, but it was an effective and efficient system. And you boys need to try to remember what we're dealing with here: ice maidens aren't the same as you or I, they don't feel any sort of emotion."

Hiei yelped as he fell to the ground upon Puu being forcefully pulled down to the mountaintop with a jolt. He pushed himself up, fixing already angered red eyes onto Enki, baring his teeth as he got to his feet. He started towards the ruler of demon world but was cut off partway there by one of Enki's advisors who grabbed an arm around his neck, pulling him into a chokehold that turned the anger in Hiei's eyes into panic.

"Witnesses tell me this little guy orchestrated the whole thing," Enki said, pointing a thumb in Hiei's direction. "If that's true, if he did all this and the three of you are caught up in this in some sort of attempt to talk sense into him, then I'm happy to let you three go. As far as I'm concerned, my only quarrel is with Hiei."

"What will you do to him?" Kuwabara asked, earning himself a sharp elbow in the ribs from Yusuke and a glare of disbelief from Kurama.

"I'll detain him for now, my first priority is to get the ice demons back to work," Enki replied. "Once I know the virus is being taken care of then I suppose I would consult with Mukuro for how best to deal with Hiei."

"It was my idea."

Despite there being more than sixty bodies on the mountaintop, the air suddenly became deathly silent. Kuwabara and Yusuke were clearly confused and it was arguable whether the ice maidens or Hiei looked more shocked.

"It was my idea," Kurama said again. "I orchestrated the whole thing. Hiei was acting on my instructions. As I already said, I don't believe that what you were doing was morally correct, and so I enlisted the help of my friends to put a stop to it. The four of us generally support each other's decisions, but this one was mine, and these three were merely complying with my wishes as any loyal friend would."

"Nuh-uh!" Kuwabara said. "It was my idea! I was the first one to say we had to rescue those ladies!"

Yusuke groaned and pushing Kuwabara and Kurama out to either side of him, stepping forwards to stand ahead of them.

"What they're trying to say is that we all did this," he said. "It wasn't just tiny over there, it was all of us. We all thought it was wrong and we all wanted to make it stop."

"I see," Enki said.

He nodded at his ally, who opened his arm in response, letting Hiei fall to the ground. Hiei paused long enough to rub a hand at his throat before scrambling away from them and hurrying back over to the others. As he reached them Kurama put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

Hiei looked up at him with large eyes, looking vaguely pleased about something. He nodded his head and it almost looked like he was smiling. Kurama wanted to ask him what he was so happy about, but he knew that it was neither the time nor the place to do so.

"You leave me in a very difficult position here, boys," Enki said. "You understand I'm going to have to take those women back?"

"No!" Hiei shouted.

Kurama caught Hiei's arm in fear that he was about to charge at Enki, though it shortly seemed that he had not intended to do so, as he made no attempt to move.

"You don't have to… I mean, you don't have to take all of us, right?" one of the ice maidens asked.

Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara all turned to look back at her in disbelief.

"I think we probably cured many of the sick already," she continued. "And if you agreed to let the children and their mothers return home, and to treat the remainder of us fairly, to let us rest when we needed to, we might be willing to help you."

"Shut you mouth, you silly girl!" Tsubara snapped.

"But we were part of the cause, we have an obligation to help!" the young ice maiden continued. "You heard what the fox said: we should have told Mister Enki about the demons building the gateway."

"You knew about the gateway before it was completed?" Enki asked Tsubara.

"It wasn't our problem to fret over," she tightly replied.

"I would be willing to stay here and help," the young ice maiden said. "But you must promise that you will let the children and their mothers go free. And if I do stay and help, you must promise that you won't keep me in a cage, you will let me sleep when I need to and when my work is done, when all the sick have been cured, you will let me return to the ice village and you will never come after us again."

"You won't be welcome back in the village if you leave now!" Tsubara warned her.

"I think we should help too," another young ice maiden volunteered. "So long as we are not mistreated and we are allowed to return to our home in peace afterwards then I think we should help."

"Does anyone else feel that way?" Enki asked, looking around the other ice maidens.

The ice maidens who had been talking stepped forwards, but, despite them both glaring back at the others, no more stepped forward to join them.

"I'll stay behind and help."

"Oh great…" Yusuke grumbled as the demented elder stepped away from the other four elders.

"What are you doing?" Tsubara hissed.

"Seems ridiculous not to," the old ice maiden replied as she crossed the mountaintop towards Enki. "And quite embarrassing. Look at the lengths Yukina went to for our sake."

"What?" Kurama echoed.

* * *

"Oh Sir, thank goodness you're back!" George gushed, standing up so abruptly that he knocked over the chair he had been anxiously sitting in since Koenma's departure from spirit world.

"Yes, and I'm incredibly tired, ogre," Koenma replied, yawning through his words. "I'm going to bed, I need you to stay there a little while longer."

"But Sir, I'm tired too!" George moaned.

"Just stay there, keep pretending to be me, I have to get some sleep," Koenma said, waving a dismissive hand at the ogre. "There is only one other thing I need you to do, one very, very important thing: you must wake me at six o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Wake you at six o'clock so that you can return to your desk and I can go to my bed?"

"No!"

Koenma thumped his fists on the desk, sending papers flying everywhere.

"Oops…" he muttered, looking down at his hands. "I forgot I was still tall… Anyway, no! I need you to wake me up then because I need to go on a mission."

"Can I go to my bed when you get back from your mission?" George asked meekly.

"You can go to bed when you start doing some work!" Koenma snapped.

"Aw… Oh Sir, Yusuke called earlier."

"He did? What did he want?"

"He was very angry, but Kurama told me that the team are all coming to spirit world tomorrow morning."

"Perfect. Now it's absolutely vital that you remember to wake me at six o'clock. Knock three times on my door and bring me a pot of tea and an omelette. And bring a fan and fan me while I eat. It's hot up there at that time of morning."

"…But Sir–"

"Six o'clock, ogre."

"Alright Sir, six o'clock."

"Don't forget! Six o'clock!"

"Six o'clock."

* * *

"I had a super time with you Princess Mukuro," Botan said cheerfully.

Mukuro said nothing in reply, but Botan assumed that was just because she was choked up with emotions: she was a quiet woman, but Botan knew that, deep down, she was a benevolent and gentile princess.

"We should do this again some time," Botan suggested.

"The genocide of my people is not something I'm keen to witness again any time soon," Mukuro flatly replied.

"Oh, no, not the virus part!" Botan hurriedly corrected herself. "Of course not the virus! Oh you, you're terrible! I meant we should spend more time together! Why do we never spend time together? Isn't it just dreadful that it took a worldwide virus to get us to spend some time together like this?"

"Leave," Mukuro growled. "Now."

"Oh, is this goodbye then?"

Mukuro lowered her head and pinched her fingers at the bridge of her nose again. She drew in a deep breath, counted tensely under her breath and then sighed and lifted her head again, flinching as her eyes landed on Botan.

"Did you just change your clothes?" she asked.

"I was wearing my tending the sick clothes, but since we are parting ways, I thought it was more appropriate to wear my saying goodbye to a good, and royal, friend clothes," Botan replied.

"Right, of course," Mukuro groaned.

"Can I have a hug?" Botan asked, opening out her arms and grinning radiantly.

"No, but there is something I would like to give you," Mukuro replied. "I had one of my men craft you a new oar. I understand you use the wood of a spirit world tree to make your oars, and I obviously couldn't do that for you, but this should suffice."

Mukuro turned to the small group behind her, waiting as one of the men stepped forwards and passed her the oar.

"Here you are," she said, turning back to Botan. "He modelled it on your old one, so it will at least the right size – did you change your clothes again?"

"You wouldn't hug me," Botan replied. "And if you won't hug me, the goodbye ceremony is over, so now it's time for me to wear my adventuring clothes again."

"How do you do that?" Mukuro asked.

"I dress in layers," Botan whispered, winking at Mukuro as she spoke.

Mukuro thrust the oar out towards the ferry girl.

"Take the damn oar and get out of my sight!" she barked.

"Alrighty!" Botan said, accepting the oar. "Goodbye, Princess!"

Mukuro muttered something that sounded anatomically impossible to Botan, but she smiled regardless and leapt through the portal, sitting onto the new oar and taking up into the skies of living world. The oar was a little awkward and the wood was rough to the touch, but it was good enough to allow Botan to fly through the late evening skies towards Genkai's temple again to find Hiei: though she already knew that he would not be there, because he was in demon world with Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama.

In fact, Botan was not really sure why Mukuro had not understood that point when she had tried to impress it upon her: Hiei was obviously still with the rest of the team because Botan had spoken to him there very recently. Maybe Mukuro was stressed out and had become forgetful.

But Botan had decided to give Mukuro the benefit of the doubt – it was the least she could do for a princess – and so, as she flew over the vast forestland surrounding Genkai's temple, Botan pulled out her Demon Compass, which she had already loaded with Hiei's hair in preparation for searching for him when she had gone to demon world (conveniently she had found a few strands of his hair on the Velcro fastening of a Hello Kitty raincoat inside Genkai's temple), and she switched it on.

Botan almost fell off her new oar when the compass screamed into life.

Despite being sure that the equipment must be malfunctioning, Botan followed the direction the compass was pointing. Her mastery of the oar was not quite up to par, and, as she neared her goal, she was forced to land early on the temple steps. She hooked the oar under one arm and looked down at the compass, seeing that it was telling her to climb the steps higher. She started to do just that before stopping as she stepped in something slimy. She peered over the compass to see a wet and sticky green pool by the edge of the steps. She stepped out of her shoes, which were now covered in the substance, and continued in her socks, managing a few steps more before the Demon Compass exploded. She muttered a complaint and she wafted away the cloud of smoke it had engulfed her head in, she discarded the redundant device over one shoulder and stomped up the steps, only stopping when the scent of the stringent chemical that the healing chambers in Mukuro's basement had been filled with reached her nose.

Turning her head towards the source, Botan saw a dark pile of clothes and limbs laying a short way into the trees.

She hurriedly leapt from the steps, picking her way through the undergrowth the way that Hiei had shown her to the day she had found him in that exact spot, and dropped to her knees by the fallen body. She grabbed handfuls of black material and pulled and then pushed to turn him over, gasping in surprise and then smiling in delight at what she found.

"Hiei!" she said.

He did not so much as flinch at the sound of his name, his eyes closed, his face pale and clammy and his mouth slightly open, that innocent look he only had when he was asleep making his face look blissfully serene.

"Hiei?" she said again, shaking him experimentally.

Still he did not stir, and another glance up at the sky reminded Botan that it was getting very late and the sun would soon set, which would make their current location impossibly dark.

"Come on, mister," she said, placing her oar down on the ground and lifting Hiei's head from the ground. "Let's get you to bed."

She hooked her arms under his and dragged him over her oar before sitting onto it herself and awkwardly lifting them into the air, clutching the uncomfortably abrasive oar in one hand, her other arm around Hiei to hold his limp form in place.

"Don't worry sweetie, I'll take good care of you!" she whispered to him as she flew them towards the temple.

* * *

"What did she just say?" Kuwabara asked.

"Hey, grandma!" Yusuke yelled. "What did you just say about Yukina?"

The old ice maiden stopped and slowly turned to face him.

"I said she's very confused," she called over. "Always getting herself in trouble, usually without meaning to. Just like her mother. Except that her mother wouldn't have done something as ridiculous as this."

"As what?" Kurama asked.

"She's insane," one of the young ice maidens said suddenly, her voice almost uncomfortably loud. "She's crazy," she said when Kurama turned to her. "She doesn't know what she's talking about."

She started towards Enki, slowing as she passed Kurama.

"She says the craziest things sometimes," she said. "It's best not to listen to her. Right Hiei?"

The ice maiden glanced at Hiei, giving him a strangely amiable and knowing look that did little to ease Kurama's suspicions that something had transpired between Hiei and the ice maidens back in Dardani when he had joined the women in their fight against the motorcycle gang.

"Well, if enough of these ladies agree to come back and help me cure the sick, I'm willing to let the others go and forget about the trouble you boys caused in Illyria, Gandara and Dardani," Enki said.

"Cool," Yusuke said.

"And if you pay me back for the damage you've done to my military grade tank, I'll forget you stole it and misused it so badly," Enki added.

Yusuke started to argue but Kurama held up a hand to stop him.

"That's fair," he said.

"Where are we gonna get the money for that?" Yusuke hissed.

"Maybe some of our ice maiden friends will help us out with that," Kurama whispered back.

Yusuke nodded, and they both watched as two more ice maidens moved over to join Enki.

"Hey, can you untie my bird now?" Yusuke called over.

One of Enki's aides nodded and began freeing Puu, who finally relaxed his ruffled feathers in relief. The four elders remained where they were, and the ice maidens with children clung onto their daughters and held back, and the remaining forty women gradually split up, twelve lingering back with their own kind and the other twenty-eight joining Enki. It was quite a slow and awkward process however, with the defectors moving singly or in pairs, and, because they were moving that way, it was even more obvious to Kurama watching on that every ice maiden that passed them looked at Hiei as she went, and every one gave him that same amiable, knowing look that the first woman had.

Kurama began to wonder if Hiei had used his jagan eye to hypnotise as many of them as he possibly could into compliance.

"I'll call for you once we've finished tending the sick," Enki said to Yusuke.

"That's fair," Yusuke agreed.

"And I'll be taking my vehicle back now," Enki added.

"Could you give us a ride back down the–"

Yusuke stopped as Kurama poked him in the back. He looked back over his shoulder, mouthing out the word "what?" and Kurama simply raised his eyebrows in return, watching as Yusuke's face slowly changed from one of irritated confusion to panicked realisation: the vehicle was a wreck on the outside from the fight in Dardani, and the inside was a wreck from their drunken exploits – not to mention the priceless collection of poitin that had been consumed or else turned into water, the remainder disposed of.

"We'll wait for your call," Yusuke said, smiling and nodding at Enki. "And we'll turn around and run very fast this way," he added under his breath as he turned back to the others, ushering them ahead of him.

Kuwabara gladly moved on with him and Kurama followed at his own pace, but Hiei lingered where they had been, his head flicking about as he looked between the three groups of ice maidens.

"They'll be fine now," Kurama assured him. "They're not as vulnerable as they seem. Your friend Rui needs us now."

Hiei snapped back to attention at the sound of his friend's name, turning to face Kurama abruptly.

"Let's go," Kurama said softly.

Hiei nodded and they both began walking briskly after Kuwabara and Yusuke, back down the mountainside.

"They'll be alright," Kurama said as they walked. "Once we've taken care of things in spirit world, we can return here and check on them, if you like."

"Would you do that?" Hiei asked, looking up at him with an almost sad expression. "Would you come back here with me and check on the other ice maidens?"

Kurama frowned, something about Hiei's choice of words seeming a bit odd, but the needy, worried look on Hiei's face quickly reminded him that his friend was waiting for an answer.

"Yes," he said. "Of course I would."

"Thanks Kurama," Hiei said.

Kurama nodded and they walked on in silence until they heard Enki roaring out a curse, at which point Yusuke whistled to Puu, who obediently landed by him. Kuwabara and Yusuke scrambled onto the spirit beast and Kurama and Hiei ran over to join them.

"I think Enki just found his tank," Kuwabara said.

"State the obvious," Yusuke groaned, rolling his eyes. "Hurry up, you two!"

Kurama leapt onto Puu's back and held out a hand to help Hiei up behind him. Hiei took his hand and Puu took off. Hiei yelped, grabbing at Kurama's arm desperately.

"Get on already!" Yusuke shouted down to him.

Kurama held out his free hand, taking Hiei's other hand and he pulled him up onto Puu's back. He looked a little more anxious than he usually would after such a minor near miss, so much so that when Kurama opened his fingers to release Hiei, he found his friend still gripping tightly onto him. Kurama decided to just keep hold of Hiei's hands, trying to ignore the way Yusuke and Kuwabara kept looking at their joined hands and smirking at each other.

After a few minutes of flying around the mountainside and then down the slope Yusuke ordered Puu to land, much to everyone else's confusion. Puu took them down amongst a particularly rocky outcropping midway down the mountain, and Yusuke eagerly leapt off his back.

"Why are we landing here?" Kuwabara called down to him.

"Hot spring!" Yusuke called back up.

"What?" Kuwabara echoed.

"Hot spring!" Yusuke repeated. "There's a huge one right over the other side of these rocks! It's still light, let's go for a swim before we head back!"

Kuwabara looked up at the darkening sky sceptically.

"I guess it would be nice to relax before we get into a fight in spirit world," he eventually concluded.

He slid down to the ground and he and Yusuke turned their attention to Kurama and Hiei.

"Shall we?" Kurama asked Hiei.

"Okay," Hiei agreed, sounding slightly lost but looking eager nonetheless.

Hiei finally let go of Kurama's hands, and together they jumped down to the ground. Hiei was smiling slightly but the gesture vanished when Yusuke threw his shirt down and began loosening his pants.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Going for a swim, are you deaf?" Yusuke replied, stepping out of his pants.

"Is it a really hot hot spring?" Kuwabara asked.

Hiei gasped sharply as his eyes moved to Kuwabara, who was stripped to his underwear.

"Hot springs in demon world are really, really hot!" Yusuke replied, whipping off his underwear in one smooth movement.

Hiei gasped again, one hand flying over his mouth. He turned his head at an angle that would remove Yusuke from his field of vision, only to turn again when he found Kuwabara completely naked before him.

"Let's go!" Yusuke shouted, punching a fist in the air.

He and Kuwabara began scrambling over the rocks towards the faint steam cloud beyond them.

"They can be like children sometimes," Kurama commented. "You'll be joining us, won't you? You're usually the first to get into a hot spring, and the hot water will do you good in your condition."

"What condition?" Hiei asked, turning to face Kurama directly.

Kurama started to answer Hiei but stopped when Hiei let out a short, sharp scream and abruptly turned away from him again.

"Hiei?" Kurama asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Well… Um…" Hiei began, his voice suddenly an octave higher than it usually was. "It's just that… You're terribly naked now…"

"That is the best way to be for a bath," Kurama replied.

He smiled at Hiei, who was holding his head at an unnaturally high angle, his eyes watching a point in the air above the top of Kurama's head.

"We should take advantage of this opportunity to relax and get some rest," Kurama reminded him. "Join us."

"Oh, I don't think that I should really…" Hiei said awkwardly.

"You've been the most determined of us all to keep clean during this mission, so come on!"

"I think I should probably just–"

"I insist."

Kurama held a hand out towards the rocks Yusuke and Kuwabara had just disappeared over, and Hiei looked over that way, looking almost afraid of what he saw.

"Go on," Kurama insisted.

"W-well I suppose I could just dip my feet in," Hiei said quietly.

After another nod from Kurama Hiei started towards the rocks. Kurama walked along at his side and together they climbed up over the ridge, the pool beyond it coming into view. The expanse of water was substantial and Yusuke and Kuwabara had already waded a quarter of the way across it, where they were submerged up to their chests. Hiei hesitated by the edge of the water but Kurama continued, moving into the water.

"Is it very hot?" Hiei called after him. "I-it feels like it might be very hot…"

Kurama looked back over his shoulder, frowning curiously as he watched Hiei poke bandaged fingers into the water experimentally, squeaking and retracting them as the water soaked through his bandages to the skin underneath. It was not like Hiei to be so wary of hot water, but Kurama decided to just leave him be: in light of some of their more recent discussions, Kurama was not really sure that he wanted a naked Hiei in the water with him anyway.

"What's up with him?" Yusuke asked as Kurama joined him and Kuwabara.

All three turned to the water's edge, watching as Hiei carefully removed his boots, neatly folding the laces back inside and standing them on a flat rock well above the waterline. He then shuffled closer to the water's edge and prodded at the surface of the water with his toes, his face creasing at the contact.

"Hey, Hiei!" Yusuke shouted over to him. "Get in here!"

Hiei gave Yusuke a dark look from across the pool, slowly easing his feet into the shallow water before him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Yusuke snapped impatiently.

"I don't want to get into this any deeper than I already have," Hiei replied, his voice barely loud enough to reach Yusuke's ears.

"Get your clothes off and get in here!" Yusuke shouted back.

"I absolutely don't want to do that," Hiei replied, his voice still barely audible. "That would be a very bad thing to do."

"What's wrong with taking off your clothes and having a bath with us? Don't be so gay, Hiei!"

Kurama and Kuwabara exchanged confused looks behind Yusuke's back, but the mazoku failed to notice their reaction as he had already begun wading back towards the water's edge.

"I'm fine here," Hiei assured him as he drew closer.

Hiei turned his head sharply and distinctly to one side as Yusuke reached the point where the waterline no longer covered the more intimate parts of his body, but Yusuke continued regardless, only stopping when his feet were mere inches from Hiei's in the shallow waters around the edge of the pool.

"Get in the water, Hiei," he said.

Hiei shook his head, making sure to keep his eyes directed as far away from Yusuke as possible.

"What's the matter? Are you scared?" Yusuke asked, his tone becoming mocking.

"What would I be scared of?" Hiei asked.

"I get it," Yusuke said, nodding his head. "You're pissed off because we can all stand in the middle of the water but you can't because you're too short."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you're scared."

"I'm not scared."

"I think you are. I think you're pissed off that this is something Kuwabara can do easier than you can."

"That's not true."

"Scared I beat you in a swimming competition?"

"The water is too hot for that sort of behaviour."

"Scared you can't keep up with me?"

"I can keep up with you!"

Hiei stood abruptly, his head snapping around and his eyes glaring directly into Yusuke's.

"I can keep up with all of you," he added.

"So then get in here already," Yusuke said.

Hiei faltered slightly, peering down at the water.

"The water is very hot…" he muttered.

"So you are scared," Yusuke sighed.

"No."

Hiei began wading into the water, wincing and twitching as more and more of his body became submerged.

"Was that so hard?" Yusuke asked, joining him as the water reached his waist in depth.

"It's really very hot in here," Hiei quietly replied.

"That's the whole point of a hot spring, idiot," Yusuke muttered.

Hiei moved a little further before stopping with a small gasp.

"This is far enough for me," he said when Yusuke looked back over his shoulder at him.

"You're like six feet from the rest of us," Yusuke pointed out as he rejoined Kurama and Kuwabara. "Get over here and stop being so weird."

"No," Hiei replied, pointing at the waterline, which was resting midway up his chest. "I don't need to go any deeper than this."

He swiped his bandaged hands at the sides of his face to clear the sweat gathering there.

"Just leave him alone," Kurama whispered when he noticed Yusuke rolling his eyes. "He has a lot on his mind right now."

"Don't make excuses for him!" Yusuke groaned. "He's been acting weird ever since he got sick. This Rui chick had better cure him when we find her."

Yusuke turned to look at Hiei again.

"Hey Hiei, you'll let your friend Rui fix you up, right?" he asked.

"When we find Rui, I can go back to normal," Hiei quietly replied, his voice muffled and vague, his attention more focused on watching the surface of the water and wiping the sweat out of his eyes than answering Yusuke's question.

"If you take your shirt off, you won't sweat so much," Yusuke reminded him.

Hiei's entire body went still, except for his eyes, which gradually sought out Kurama, as though he needed the fox demon's approval before responding to Yusuke's suggestion.

"These waters are very soothing," Kurama reminded him, sensing that Hiei was waiting for him to say something on the matter. "And it sounds as though the worst of the infection is still in your chest, your voice is still very uneven. Taking off your shirt and letting the water at your skin is probably a good idea."

Hiei's eyes lowered and his face twitched slightly, but then he slowly dipped his hands into the water and began pulling his shirt out of his pants. The other three watched in varying degrees of bemusement as Hiei huddled his shoulders forwards and wriggled out of his shirt, ending with his arms clutched up against his chest and his shirt hanging between his hands, hiding himself from the chin downwards.

"Does that feel better?" Kurama asked him.

Hiei nodded mechanically in reply, but his eyes looked strangely vacant.

"The water helps cure illnesses?" Kuwabara asked Kurama.

"It can aid the recovery process in some cases, yes," Kurama replied.

"So it's not really his chest that needs to be in the water," Kuwabara muttered. "It's his head, since that's where he's the sickest right now…"

"Good idea," Yusuke agreed.

"What are you doing?" Kurama asked as Yusuke started towards Hiei.

Hiei clutched his shirt closer to himself and narrowed his eyes threateningly at Yusuke as he approached, but Yusuke remained cheerfully unfazed.

"You heard what Doctor Kuwabara said, three eyes," Yusuke said, stopping directly in front of Hiei. "And since your jagan eye needs fixing too, let's kill two birds with one stone here."

Hiei barely had time to draw breath before Yusuke planted a hand on the top of his head and violently pushed him down below the surface of the water. Yusuke held Hiei down for a few seconds, waving off Kurama's complaints and only letting go when he saw Hiei's shirt float to the surface. He released Hiei and grabbed his shirt, pulling it along the surface of the water and around his back out of Hiei's line of sight. Hiei surfaced abruptly, gasping desperately as though he had been under the water for much longer and not been able to breathe for several minutes rather than several seconds. His spiked hair was suddenly plastered down all around his head, the flattened ends covering his ears and eyes. His bandaged arms slapped at the water at his sides a few times before he managed to secure his feet on the bottom of the pool and stand steady once more.

"Feeling any better?" Yusuke asked him.

Hiei looked about for his shirt before suddenly noticing that the tight white vest he was wearing was wet, which made him jerk in shock, almost losing his balance and falling under the water again. He stared down at himself for a long time before his head suddenly snapped up and turned towards the water's edge. He started to wade back in that direction, and Yusuke turned to the others, grinning mischievously.

"Yusuke, he isn't well and he has a lot on his mind," Kurama reminded him. "Just leave him be."

"Yeah, he's not really my favourite person but maybe you should just let him go," Kuwabara agreed.

"You guys are no fun," Yusuke snorted.

Kurama opened his mouth to protest but stopped as Yusuke dropped under the water. He turned to Kuwabara, who was already looking at him with worried eyes.

"Let him go," Kurama said. "If he insists on tormenting Hiei, he'll just have to find out the hard way why doing so is a bad idea."

Kuwabara nodded and together they turned to watch as Yusuke swam under the surface of the water towards Hiei. Hiei remained completely oblivious to his approach, only responding with a cry of alarm when Yusuke grabbed one of his legs and pulled him under the water. After a few splashes and flashes of colour beneath the water Yusuke surfaced with a dripping wet ball of black cloth that he immediately threw as far as he could across the pool. Hiei surfaced behind him, breathless and horrified, his visible areas of skin flushed red.

"Now you just need to take off that stupid vest," Yusuke said, turning to Hiei.

Hiei's jaw opened wide and closed again, his eyes moving to the point at the other side of the pool where his pants had landed. Yusuke took a step towards him and Hiei scrambled back to maintain the same distance between them.

"Why are you trying to undress me?" he snapped.

"Don't flatter yourself, shorty, it's not like that," Yusuke replied. "I'm just doing it because it's pissing you off."

"That's a terrible reason to ever do anything to anyone!" Hiei wailed.

"It's always been easy to piss you off, but since you got sick, it's been ridiculously easy!"

Yusuke grabbed his hands at Hiei, who dropped down underwater to escape him. Yusuke's hands closed around empty air, but as he saw Hiei swim past him he smiled. He turned around and submerged himself, pushing off after him. With just one sweep of his arms he was rapidly gaining on Hiei; but as he closed in on the fire demon he briefly noticed that the water felt colder before suddenly something invisible smacked him in the face. Yusuke stopped and surfaced again, coughing up a mouthful of water he had inadvertently inhaled in shock upon the collision. He touched a hand to his nose, which was still throbbing, and as he withdrew his fingers he saw streams of blood mixed through the water running over his skin.

"Did he kick you?" Kuwabara asked, starting towards Yusuke.

"No, I didn't get close enough for that," Yusuke replied. "It was like I hit a rock."

Kuwabara peered into the water around Yusuke before shaking his head.

"I don't see any rocks," he concluded.

"It was an invisible rock," Yusuke said.

"Right… You could just admit that he kicked you, it's okay. He is a lot faster than you."

"He didn't kick me! Hey Kurama, did you see Hiei kick me… Kurama?"

Yusuke and Kuwabara looked about curiously as they suddenly noticed that Kurama had disappeared.

"This stupid mission can't get any weirder," Yusuke grumbled.

"Don't say that, Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelled, staggering back a step. "Every time you say that, it gets weirder, you just – oh my God, there's something in the water!"

"Yeah, it's about eighty-five kilos of bearded trout…" Yusuke sarcastically replied.

"It's not my fault I beard quickly, we've been on the road for days, and there is still something in the water!"

"There is not!"

"There is too!"

"Prove it!"

Kuwabara cautiously squatted down, keeping his head above the waterline and stretching an arm down to retrieve the object by his foot. He started to mutter incoherent complaints when his fingers closed around something squishy, but a biting insult from Yusuke helped him stay focused, and he straightened up again, holding up what he had recovered.

"What the hell is that?" Yusuke asked. "It looks like a stress ball."

"It's not a stress ball, it's not squishy enough for that," Kuwabara replied, squeezing the striped oval in his hand experimentally. "Wait a minute…"

He grabbed hold of the object in both hands and, after a few moments of awkward struggling, unravelled it into two items.

"A balled up pair of socks?" Yusuke muttered. "I thought even Hiei took his socks off before he got in the water, where the hell did those come from?"

"Hey, these are my socks!" Kuwabara said, his earlier apprehension giving way to anger. "These are my overnight socks I keep at Genkai's for when I stay over there!"

Yusuke snorted and rolled his eyes.

"You're a real class act, Kuwabara," he said.

"Huh?" Kuwabara echoed.

"You leave your socks on when you get in the water?" Yusuke said. "It's no wonder your feet stink."

"It's a bacterial condition!" Kuwabara yelled defensively.

"Whatever you say…"

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Hiei has something incredibly important to tell Kurama, but he is saved the bother of actually saying it, because Kurama has already guessed what it is – that little incident in the water sort of gave it away to a more observant fellow like Kurama. The team find a place to stay for the night, but Hiei has trouble sleeping: and upon waking he finds that he has acquired a highly convenient and multi-functional ally. **Chapter 24 – Telling Nerves**


	24. Telling Nerves

**Chapter 24: Telling Nerves**

Kurama leaned over the rocky ridge, looking from side to side until he finally located Hiei. The little fire demon was sitting twenty feet to his left, holding a large leaf from one of the trees that grew in small clumps over the mountainside. He appeared to be trying to sharpen the stalk of the leaf with his teeth and fingers, and Kurama could not help but smile.

"You left your sword at the other side of the pool," he called over.

Hiei yelped, his entire body jerking in shock at the sound of Kurama's voice. His head whipped around and he stared over at Kurama with enormous, terrified eyes.

"It's alright, I came alone," Kurama assured him as he began climbing over the rocky ledge, lowering his eyes to his feet to make sure he did not accidentally stand on a sharp edge. "Yusuke and Kuwabara were too busy arguing between themselves to notice my departure. I think Yusuke's a little upset that you kicked him so hard in the face, he was fabricating a fantastical tale about accidentally swimming into invisible rocks under the water."

Kurama stopped as he reached the other side of the rocks, tilting his head in curious confusion: Hiei was still sitting in the same place and position, but he was suddenly wearing the leaf he had been sharpening.

"Are you trying to hide yourself?" Kurama asked.

Hiei shook his head, but took on a distinctly guilty expression that was obvious even from where Kurama was standing.

"Right…" Kurama said under his breath.

He lowered his eyes to the ground and began walking towards Hiei, watching where he stepped as he was barefoot and some of the rocks were quite sharp. He already had an idea about why Hiei had been hesitant to get undressed, and so, in an act of sympathy for his friend, Kurama had donned his underwear and been sure to collect every piece of clothing Hiei had lost in the water before starting his search for Hiei himself. He stopped by the rock Hiei was using as a backrest and sat down onto it, looking down at Hiei, who twisted his head to look back up at him worriedly.

"If we lay these out on the rocks here, the heat of the air around us should dry them soon enough," Kurama said, holding up Hiei's clothing.

"Did you find my bandana?" Hiei asked, carefully pushing aside the tips of hair hanging over his eyes.

His hair was still wet and flat all around his head – as it always was when he got his hair wet – but he was making no attempt to push his hair back out of his eyes and off of his forehead like he usually did when it was wet.

"Yes, I did," Kurama slowly replied.

He laid Hiei's shirt and pants out on some nearby flat rocks that were warm from being so close to the hot spring before turning back to Hiei with the bandana stretched between his hands. He looked down at the cloth thoughtfully, and although he was trying to concentrate on it, he could not help but notice the way Hiei began chewing at his lip.

"I have to tell you something, Kurama," he said quietly.

"I thought you might," Kurama replied, keeping his eyes on the bandana.

"But before I do, you have to promise me something," Hiei said. "It's very important that you still let me come to spirit world with you after I tell you what I have to say. I want to help save Rui. I think I've earned that right, even if I haven't been entirely altruistic in my other actions on this mission."

"Alright," Kurama said.

"You promise? You promise I can still come with you, no matter what?"

"I understand why you feel a need to rescue the ice maiden. It's not my place to stop you."

"Thank you. N-now you have to remember to keep that promise, because what I'm about to tell you might make you want to change your mind – but you've already promised me that you'll let me go to spirit world with you."

"I don't go back on my word, you should know that."

"Of course. It's just that this is something really, really terrible – something I've been hiding from you. I know that I should have told you a long time ago, but at first I didn't think there was any real harm in keeping it a secret. It was almost fun to begin with, and then later it just got harder to tell you the truth because time was passing and the longer I put off telling you, the harder it became, but now I really have to tell you the truth, Kurama. I-I don't think I can move from this spot until I do."

"I understand."

"I have you tell you about my true–"

Hiei stopped abruptly as Kurama met his eyes.

"Yes?" Kurama pressed.

"Um…" Hiei said softly. "I was um… I need to tell you about my real… About how I… About what I… Um…"

"Your real feelings?" Kurama asked. "About what you actually feel for me?"

Hiei's face twitched through a range of expressions, his eyes wandering from Kurama's as his mouth worked through a few silent words. After a few moments of awkwardly faltering he met Kurama's eyes again and finally found his voice.

"That wasn't what I thought I would talk to you about right now exactly, though maybe it's part two of what I was trying to say," he said quietly.

"I think I already know what part one is as well," Kurama said.

"Y-you do?" Hiei asked.

"Yes, I do."

"Oh. Well of course you do. You always were the most intelligent and perceptive one of us all. And I suppose you learned a lot about how to spot a liar during all those years you were a bandit in demon world. After all, you saw right through the tricks of that girl in the underground."

"Yes, well, your behaviour has been at its most erratic these last few days whenever you were confronted with a situation that meant you would have to get undressed. The Hiei I know had never been insecure about his physical appearance in any way, but you've been ridiculously so, from refusing to let me look at your shoulder when the wood nymph bit you on our first day together on this mission to panicking at the thought of joining us in the hot spring tonight. You don't flatter me when you say someone with my skills of deduction was bound to have noticed your shift in behaviour: it's painfully obvious to even the most casual of observers."

"Oh, I see. I thought I had done rather a good job of pretending. I tried so hard, but sometimes unexpected things happened that just caught me off guard!"

"I'm a little insulted that you thought you could hide the truth from me, though I do also understand why one as stubborn as you felt the need to lie the way you have."

"Y-you think I'm stubborn?"

Kurama smiled wryly and held out the bandana towards the tense little demon by his feet.

"I know you are," he said. "But as I said, I can understand why you tried to hide the truth – even though you did do a very pitiable job of it: dressing in layers and bandaging the full length of your arms is impractical and silly, really."

Hiei smiled, accepting the bandana from Kurama.

"It is impractical," he agreed, flexing the fingers on one hand. "And very uncomfortable!"

"I haven't told Yusuke or Kuwabara, though you should know that they are becoming aware of it on their own," Kurama replied.

"Well, Yusuke was a detective at one time, it was only a matter of time before he figured me out," Hiei replied. "I thought I was doing such a good job of hiding it, too… Well, at least I won't need to wear this any more!"

Hiei flung aside the bandana and smiled at Kurama.

"It's a very dangerous thing that you did," Kurama said solemnly, causing Hiei's smile to fade. "It's a very dangerous thing that you are continuing to do. I am angry at you for trying to deceive us all, but equally I am disappointed in myself for not noticing much sooner. I've been a fool."

"A fully justified, trusting fool," Hiei offered.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Kurama asked.

"I thought it might."

"I see. I don't know if you are fit for the challenge we face in spirit world. I won't stop you coming with us – I don't think I could stop you even if I did try to – but I worry that you're not prepared or strong enough to stand alongside us when we battle the enemy there."

"I can keep up with you. I can keep up with all of you."

"I know you can, but I'm concerned that the added complication of your emotional connection to their prisoner might be a weakness for you."

"No, that's not true! I'll try harder because I know I have to for Miss Rui's sake!"

"I don't doubt that you'll try hard, but it's not just your own safety we have to think about. When we enter a battle as a team, we have to be able to trust and rely on each other."

"You can trust and rely on me."

"Not if you get hurt we can't. If you do something reckless and render yourself useless, you expose the rest of us to potential dangers. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I didn't think of it like that before."

"I know you didn't. You never think ahead, it's your biggest weakness."

Hiei lowered his head, looking slightly guilty and surprisingly subdued. Kurama waited for him to become defensive or aggressive as he usually would when issued with such an insult, but instead he remained silent and kept his head down.

"But I won't try to stop you coming with us," Kurama assured him. "I understand that recovering Rui is an important issue for you. Though, if I'm being honest, I'm still a little confused: I've never heard you mention her before. Why is that?"

"I don't like to talk about my past," Hiei quietly replied.

Kurama smiled.

"Yes, I suppose I only learned what I did about your past through circumstance," he said. "Still, you shouldn't try to ignore your past. Remembering it is an important tool to help prevent you repeating old mistakes."

"I don't have any regrets," Hiei replied, lifting his head at last to look at Kurama again. "I sometimes think I shouldn't have gone back to the ice village at all, but I did see another side of my people that I would never have otherwise understood, so I don't know if it was a bad idea or not."

"You've never been the type to regret much of anything."

"That's probably because of the way I make decisions."

"Do you ever really make decisions? Decisions are usually life-changing choices made after careful thought on the matter at hand: does that sound like anything you've ever done?"

Hiei smiled and shook his head.

"I suppose not, no," he admitted.

"You know I'm not sure if I prefer you like this or not."

Hiei's face twisted as though he was about to say something vicious and admonishing, but he remained silent, his eyes studying Kurama intensely.

"And about part two, about your real feelings…" Kurama began. "That is quite a complicated issue. A real tangled mesh of… Complications."

"It's not like you to be inarticulate," Hiei said quietly. "I think you're trying to politely tell me that you're very fond of Botan."

"No, actually, that wasn't the gist of what I was trying to say, though now that you mention it, it does add another thread to the tangled mesh of complications."

"It's becoming a very tangled mesh."

"It's getting to be more like a knot."

Hiei smiled and nodded. Kurama straightened his back and looked over one shoulder. Behind him he could see Yusuke and Kuwabara wading towards him, both looking irritated by something.

"I sense that we're about to be asked for an opinion on something incredibly insignificant, random and banal," he concluded, turning back to Hiei.

"How do you sense that?" Hiei asked innocently. "Is that something you can smell, or…?"

Kurama laughed quietly, being careful not to let Yusuke or Kuwabara hear him.

"Sometimes it is something I can smell, unfortunately," he said.

"Hey, Kurama!" Yusuke called over to him.

Kurama rolled his eyes and smiled at Hiei before turning around on the rock to face Yusuke as he approached.

"What's the difference between stinky feet and rotten feet?" Yusuke asked.

"My feet aren't rotten, Urameshi!" Kuwabara complained.

"So you're admitting they just stink then?" Yusuke asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"It's a bacterial condition!" Kuwabara said as he stopped by the rocky edge of the pool.

He lifted one foot up onto the top of the rocks and pointed at it as though to prove his point.

"So now you're saying it is rotten?" Yusuke asked.

"No!" Kuwabara cried.

"Bacteria is the same as rotten, right?" Yusuke said, shrugging indifferently.

"It is not the same!" Kuwabara argued.

"He's just teasing you, Kuwabara," Kurama pointed out.

"Oh yeah?" Kuwabara said, glowering at Yusuke.

"No, you're feet are rancid," Yusuke flatly replied.

"Well at least I'm a real man!" Kuwabara retaliated.

Yusuke eyebrows shot up and for a brief moment he looked strangely pale and bewildered; but he quickly relaxed back into a mildly amused smirk.

"It's been a tough night, so make us laugh Kuwabara," he said in a low voice. "Tell us why you think you're a "real man" now."

"I have hair!" Kuwabara snidely replied.

"So do I," Yusuke said, peering down at himself.

"I'm not talking about that sort of hair!" Kuwabara snapped. "I mean I have a manly stubble."

"So do I," Yusuke said, rubbing at his chin. "That's what eight days on the road does to a guy."

"Mine's is more hairier than yours," Kuwabara muttered.

"That's because, unlike you, I shaved the night we went back to living world," Yusuke flatly replied.

"As did I," Kurama volunteered.

"So, that was still like 4 days ago!" Kuwabara scoffed. "And I'm still the hairiest."

"That's idiotic," Yusuke said. "And besides, girls don't like hairy guys, didn't you know that?"

"What?" Kuwabara muttered, his face slowly changing into a look of worry.

"No, they don't," Yusuke confirmed. "You see how the girls all flock around Kurama, and look at him: four days later and he's barely got a five o'clock shadow."

Kuwabara turned to Kurama, studying the faint hint of colour staining the lower half of his face before turning to Hiei.

"What about Hiei?" he asked. "He doesn't even have a shadow."

"There were razors onboard both of the vehicles we were journeying in," Hiei answered him.

"Oh yeah, it figures you would know that, Hime!" Yusuke said, his top lip curling in disgust. "And I guess that explains why your legs are as smooth as your face, you little freak!"

"Do girls like shaved legs too?" Kuwabara asked.

"I've never shaved my legs," Yusuke replied. "And I've never struggled with the ladies, so I guess they don't."

"Hiei's probably had a lot more girls than you though," Kuwabara said. "So if he shaves his legs, maybe he's onto something."

"No way has Hiei had more girls than me!" Yusuke argued.

Kurama snorted, but quickly straightened his face as Yusuke met his eyes.

"I'm being serious!" Yusuke snapped at him. "Unless he's hypnotising them with his freaky eye, then there's no way he's been with more than like two girls in his entire life!"

"Why do you measure a man's importance based on how many women he's laid down with?" Hiei asked.

Yusuke started to screw up his face at Hiei but his head snapped around and his face twisted further when Kuwabara responded.

"That's the sort of thing a guy who's had lots of girlfriends would say."

"What?" Yusuke yelped. "That's the sort of sentimental crap a girl having a period would say!"

"No, the guys who get all the girls are always all nonchalant about it like that," Kuwabara corrected him.

"That's true," Kurama agreed.

"Is not!" Yusuke argued. "Hiei, how many girls have you ever slept with?"

"What do you mean "slept" with?" Hiei asked. "Do you mean how many women have I ever shared my bed with?"

"Whatever, just how many?" Yusuke said irritably.

Hiei looked up, touching a finger to his lips, his head nodding slightly as though he was counting back through his memories.

"Wow, that's a lot," Kuwabara said.

"He didn't say anything yet!" Yusuke said.

"That's because he's still counting," Kurama whispered.

"No way is he… He's…" Yusuke replied, narrowing his eyes at Hiei. "Just answer me already, Hiei! There's no way it's taking you that long to remember! What are you like nine years old? How many girls could you possibly have slept with since your balls dropped?"

"Can I include non-demon girls?" Hiei asked.

"What?" Yusuke yelped.

"Do human girls and ferry girls count?" Hiei asked.

"Yes," Kuwabara answered him.

"Well in that case thirty-seven."

Yusuke's eyes almost popped out of his head, Kuwabara nodded as though he had expected as much and Kurama gave Hiei an almost accusatory glare.

"How the hell did you manage to get that many girls to sleep with you?" Yusuke asked.

"Would you really want to sleep with that many girls?" Kuwabara asked him.

"Yes!" Yusuke replied. "Wouldn't you?"

"I don't know, it seems kinda shallow and pointless," Kuwabara replied.

"You're pathetic!"

"You know, this is why Keiko gets so mad at you. You're insensitive."

"Am not!"

"Drawing attention to my feet is insensitive."

"Taking off your socks and stinking out the room is insensitive!"

"See, there you go again!"

As Yusuke and Kuwabara launched into an argument that quickly dissolved into a wrestling match in the water, Kurama turned his attention back to Hiei, his face still stern and critical.

"Thirty-seven?" he said.

"What about it?" Hiei asked.

"You said it so earnestly," Kurama replied. "Not a hint of sarcasm, even though you know that I know it was a lie."

"It wasn't a lie," Hiei said. "Not really. He asked me how many women I'd slept with, how many I'd shared a bed with. The honest answer to that is thirty-seven."

Kurama frowned, but he slowly started to nod his head.

"That's so strange," he said. "I didn't think you'd spent an entire night with any of them."

"Well sometimes I did," Hiei casually replied.

"I see…"

Kurama scratched at his head, silently wondering if his own exhaustion was making his mind play tricks on him.

"Kurama?" Hiei said, his voice quiet but firm.

"Yes?" Kurama responded, meeting his eyes again.

"I'm not gay."

"But… I…"

Kurama hesitated, the determined look on Hiei's face only confusing him further.

"Right…" he said slowly. "Well, neither am I."

"Oh good!" Hiei said, smiling sweetly.

Kurama felt even more confused than ever. He decided that he was probably just tired, and that the heat from the hot spring was making matters worse; and, as he heard Puu dropping into the water and starting to preen himself, eliciting yells of alarm and complaint from Yusuke and Kuwabara, Kurama decided that it was time to move on.

"I don't think this night can get any more… Weird or awkward…" he muttered, reaching his fingers into the hair at the back of his neck. "So I'm just going to ask you outright: are you aware that you created this after you heard about Rui's fate?"

Kurama produced the sparkling hiruiseki he had collected earlier, holding it out towards Hiei. Hiei's eyes grew large as he looking at his own reflection in the gem's surface, and he gulped audibly.

"Did you know that you had made it?" Kurama asked him.

Hiei shook his head, lifting his eyes to Kurama.

"How silly of me," he said quietly.

"Not exactly," Kurama replied. "I hope you don't mind, but I wondered if we could use it?"

"What for?" Hiei asked.

"To buy ourselves a room for the night in a quality hotel in Arbeinia," Kurama replied. "Because we need the sleep, we need the hearty breakfast such an establishment would serve in the morning, but most of all because we need the protection of a well-guarded, up-market hotel in case Kokou decides to come looking for payment for her lost collection of priceless liquor one of us reduced to water…"

Hiei tilted his head slightly.

"Are you bribing me?" he asked. "Are you saying you'll tell Kokou I destroyed all those bottles of poitin if I don't let you sell my… That… The hirui stone?"

"Do I need to bribe you?" Kurama asked.

"No, I would let you use it anyway," Hiei replied.

"Good," Kurama replied. "And don't worry, I won't tell anyone else about where this came from. And if anyone does ask, I'll say it came from the baby we had onboard the vehicle with us – who must have left behind enough gems to more than pay for the damage we did to that vehicle anyway for all the time she was crying."

"Can I ask you a question though?"

"Of course."

"Have you been hiding the stone in your hair this whole time? How did you manage to keep it in there?"

"I hide everything of importance in my hair, including my Rose Whip and a collection of seeds."

"But you're all wet, you've been swimming underwater. How did you manage to do that without all of your treasures falling out of your hair?"

Kurama smiled slyly and leaned closer to Hiei, whose eyes widened further still.

"I could tell you how," he said quietly. "But then I'd have to kill you."

Hiei made a small, soft, yelping sound and the colour drained from his already pale face.

"You never were terribly good at being able to tell when someone was teasing you, were you?" Kurama asked.

"Wh-what?" Hiei echoed.

"We should be on our way," Kurama said, standing up from the rock. "Your clothes are mostly dry, I'll leave you in peace to get dressed. Once you're ready step out onto that flat rock over there. I'm going back to collect the rest of my clothes and to make sure Yusuke and Kuwabara are ready too."

"Oh, okay."

Kurama started to pick his way around the edge of the pool, and behind him he heard Hiei untangling himself from the leaf.

* * *

Kurama smiled behind his hand as he watched Hiei's head bob behind the menu. He was clearly exhausted and fighting sleep as best he could, trying his best to hide his heavy eyelids and drooping form behind the large menu card.

"What's a grox?" Kuwabara asked.

"Are you gonna ask what every damn thing on the menu is?" Yusuke growled through tightly clenched teeth.

"Probably," Kuwabara honestly replied. "Because I don't know what anything on the menu is. It's all demon stuff."

"We are in demon world," Yusuke reminded him.

"Yeah, it's kinda hard to forget that…"

Kuwabara's eyes wandered across the empty restaurant to the impatient centipede demon standing by the entrance, his antennae twitching irritably. He looked especially odd as he had stuffed his long, multi-legged body into a suit designed for a human-shaped demon; though by the way he kept tugging at the collar it was clear the outfit had not been of his own choosing.

"Are you all remembering that this restaurant closed two hours ago?" Kurama asked quietly, glancing around his friends.

Hiei peered up at him, his eyes large and hazy with his exhaustion, Kuwabara frowned at him in a blend of confusion and concern and Yusuke gave an indifferent, half-smile and shrugged his shoulders. Kurama sighed and returned his attention to his own menu card. After returning to Arbeinia on Puu's back, the team had sought out the finest hotel in the town and, at the sight of the hirui stone Kurama offered them, the proprietors had gladly reopened the closed hotel restaurant and bar, and had arranged for some of their staff to set up the family room on the top floor – a hotel room with a living area and multiple individual bedrooms – for the team to spend the night in.

"What's a smoky man-horn?" Kuwabara asked.

"A roasted human penis," Yusuke replied.

Kurama put down his menu and held up a hand, waving over the waiter.

"We're ready to order now," he called out.

"Oh God, so then what's a grilled pastry-hole?" Kuwabara asked.

"I think you already know what it is," Yusuke replied, grinning darkly at him.

"What about a hairy-lipped oyster, is that…?"

Yusuke nodded and Kuwabara turned pale, his menu slowly wilting as his fingers weakened and his grip lessened.

"We'll just have four of the chef's special," Kurama told the waiter.

"And some beer," Yusuke added.

"A jug of water and four glasses," Kurama corrected him.

The waiter nodded and retreated back towards the kitchen, leaving Yusuke glaring across the table at Kurama.

"Didn't your last experience with demon world alcohol teach you anything?" Kurama asked him.

"Kurama's right, Urameshi," Kuwabara said. "You don't need alcohol to relax or have fun. It's really bad for you, I never touch the stuff."

"You were easily as wasted as I was last night!" Yusuke snapped at him.

Kuwabara started to argue back but stopped as Hiei's elbows collided with the table. He blinked a few times and tried to sit upright and look alert, but he was failing miserably.

"Aw, the poor little guy's sleepy!" Yusuke said in a baby voice.

Hiei shook his head.

"Hey, is it true what you said before about him still being a kid?" Kuwabara asked Yusuke. "Because maybe it's past his bed-time. Or maybe the reason he's so grumpy whenever we go on a mission is because he can't get his afternoon naps."

"I'm not a child," Hiei replied, his voice thick and slurred. "And I'm only a little tit bired."

Yusuke and Kuwabara both smirked.

"What did you just say?" Yusuke asked.

"Leave me alone," Hiei mumbled, his eyelids drooping again. "I'm not as sleepy as you thinkle peep I am."

He lifted up his menu-card again, hiding himself behind it so that Yusuke and Kuwabara would no longer be able to see him: but Kurama still had line of sight of him, and saw his head slowly move forwards until his forehead came to rest against the menu-card, at which point his eyes closed completely.

"I'll be back, don't steal any of my order," Kurama told Yusuke and Kuwabara as he pushed out his chair.

"Can we steal Hiei's order?" Yusuke asked.

"You might as well," Kurama replied, stepping away from his seat and grabbing onto Hiei's chair.

He pulled the chair back and Hiei slumped forwards before awakening abruptly as he realised that he was falling, his hands throwing the menu-card up in the air and grabbing at the table to stop himself from collapsing completely. Kurama beckoned him to stand up and, after one last, squinty glare at Yusuke and Kuwabara, Hiei got to his feet and followed Kurama from the restaurant, dragging his feet with every step. Kurama led him into an elevator, and, during their journey up to the top floor of the hotel, Kurama had to hold onto Hiei's shoulders to keep him upright.

"It's been a long day," he said when Hiei looked up at him with a hint of shame in his eyes. "And an early night will do you good."

"Are you going to bed now too?" Hiei asked as the elevator doors opened.

"No," Kurama replied, pushing Hiei out into the lobby ahead of him.

"So why are you coming up here with me?"

"To make sure that you make it to a bed. We can't have you collapsing halfway there and spending the night curled up in a plant pot."

Kurama smiled at Hiei, who looked as though he was embarrassed.

"Don't be ashamed," Kurama assured him as they entered their room. "Once this mission is over, we can work on your… Well, you know what I mean. You've done incredibly well to last as long as you have like this, but you must promise me that once we rescue Rui, you will never do this to yourself again."

Hiei smiled.

"I don't think I'll ever get the opportunity to do this to myself again," he replied.

"Let's hope not," Kurama said. "We don't want any more epidemics in demon world."

"No," Hiei agreed.

"And I know another killer virus would be the only thing that would lead to you being in this situation again."

"That's true."

Hiei moved to the nearest bedroom, stumbled over to the bed and collapsed onto it, crawling over the covers until he reached the pillows and then gladly turning over and lying down on his back, his head resting on the pillow.

"I'm going back to the restaurant," Kurama said.

"Thank you so much for accompanying me back up here, Mister Kurama."

Kurama tilted his head, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

"Mister Kurama?" he said.

Hiei's eyes were suddenly open wide and staring at the ceiling. He slowly turned his head to look over at Kurama by the doorway.

"As soon as this mission is over, you know what you have to do," Kurama said sternly as their eyes met.

Hiei nodded in agreement. Kurama turned around and disappeared out the door, and Hiei turned onto his side, facing the open doorway, watching through the gap as Kurama strode briskly across the living room area beyond. He reached the main door, his hand touching the door handle, but he stopped before his fingers closed around it. He hesitated there for a moment before turning and jogging back over to the bedroom and leaning in through the open doorway. When he saw Hiei still wide awake and watching him he edged further into the room.

"Now probably isn't the best time to talk about this, but there is something that worries me," he began. "It's about your sister."

"I don't have a sister," Hiei replied, pushing himself up onto his hip and curling his legs around at his side.

"…Yukina?" Kurama said.

"Yes?"

"Right."

"Okay."

"It's just that… You said you know where she is, but do you really?"

"…What?"

"I'm worried about Yukina, Hiei."

Hiei's face dropped.

"In light of everything we've witnessed and learned in the last few days, I'm concerned that she may be in great danger," Kurama continued. "At first I was worried the sick might go to living world and capture her, but now that I know Tsubara freely told Fumio and his men about Yukina's new residence and her vulnerability, being there alone so often, I'm worried that the real reason nobody has seen her lately is because Fumio, or one of his allies, has taken her. So Hiei I have to know: do you actually know where your sister is tonight?"

Hiei looked far less concerned than Kurama thought that he ought to. Instead he looked down, scratched his head, looked up, chewed at the inside of his mouth and then finally looked directly at Kurama again, his head slightly tilted.

"What's my secret?" he asked. "What is it about me that you've figured out?"

"What are you talking about?" Kurama echoed.

"Back at the hot spring, you said you knew what I was hiding," Hiei replied. "What am I hiding, Kurama?"

"You know what you're hiding," Kurama said.

"I know what I'm hiding, but I don't think that you know what I'm hiding. You just think you know, but I don't think that you do know."

"You're hiding how ill you genuinely are. You've lost weight – most noticeably muscle mass – and you're trying to hide how frail you've become behind excessive layers of clothing. Did you really think you could disguise the truth by dressing in layers, Hiei?"

"It works for Botan."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Hiei sighed and burrowed his way under the covers, pulling them up over his head.

"Hiei?" Kurama called over to him.

"Go away," Hiei's muffled voice replied.

"Your body has maybe weakened, but your obstinacy certainly hasn't…" Kurama muttered as he took his leave once more.

* * *

"Yukina!"

Hiei looked about himself anxiously. His heart was thundering in his chest, he was short of breath, he was sweating and the room was almost too dark for comfort: but he could see enough to realise that he was in a bedroom, and that he had apparently just been dreaming about his sister. He let out a long low sigh and dragged the back of his bandaged hand across his brow.

And as he did so, he realised that the warding bandages from both his right arm and forehead were absent.

Lifting up the covers and peering down at himself, Hiei discovered that he was in fact entirely naked. He tried to remember when he had taken off his clothes, but his disturbingly vivid dreams about his sister were clouding his memories. The room around him suddenly came into sharp focus as a small lamp snapped on, flooding the bedside area in light. Hiei turned towards it curiously, grunting in surprise as he found himself looking at a ferry girl with messy, slept-in blue hair and curious pink eyes.

"Why are you in my bed?" he growled at her.

"You were asleep but you felt cold, so I thought I should come in here and keep you warm," she replied.

He narrowed his eyes at her, hoping that she would at least acknowledge that her excuse was pathetic.

"I already told you, I don't do ferry girls," he said gruffly.

"But – ah!"

He threw the covers over her, cutting her words off, and got out of bed. For the first time in a long time, his head did not start to throb and spin the moment he stood up, which was at least something of a relief. He began stomping around the room in search of his clothes, but he did not get far before halting as two realisations struck him: first of all, none of his clothes or even his sword were in the room, and secondly he had woken up in a bed with Botan.

"Why are you in my bed?" he called over to her.

She fought her way out from under the covers to show her face before answering him.

"You're still sick and I was worried about you," she replied.

"Why am I naked?" he asked. "Did you undress me again?"

"You were unconscious," she replied.

"I've told you before, that's not a good enough reason to take my clothes off!" he snapped. "And why are you naked?"

"I was keeping you warm."

"If you wanted to keep me warm, maybe you shouldn't have taken off my clothes. And did you forget that I'm a fire demon? Heat isn't a problem for me."

"Skin on skin contact helps insulate the heat better."

"Hn, pathetic."

"What is?"

"Just admit it woman: you just wanted to get naked with me."

Botan folded her arms and pouted, but Hiei was in no mood to humour her sulking.

"Where's Yukina?" he asked her.

Her arms slowly fell to her sides and her face softened into a look of confusion before slowly dissolving into a look of dismay.

"You said you knew where she was!" she said.

"I always know where she is," he muttered.

"Then why did you just ask where she is?" Botan snapped.

Hiei clenched his fists at his sides and hung his head. Botan shuffled to the edge of the bed, watching him intently as he began to shake.

"A-are you okay?" Botan asked cautiously.

"I'm fine," Hiei replied. "I'm not sick. I saw those others get sick, but I'm not sick."

"You are sick, Hiei," Botan said. "But it's okay, I can cure you."

Hiei head snapped up and he glared at her almost accusingly.

"That's it?" he asked quietly. "I feel better now because I lay in bed naked with you?"

"What?" she echoed.

"Yes, I understand now…" he said, his eyes wandering from hers in thought. "That's why she was so angry… The cure for the virus involves nudity… The only way the sick can be cured is by lying naked with a healer… The ice maidens were being made to get naked…"

Botan's eyes doubled in size, but as she realised that Hiei was looking at her again she quickly relaxed her expression.

"Yes," she said, nodding her head. "That's exactly what the cure is: nudity. If you want to get healthy again, you'll just have to get back into this bed with me."

She lifted up the covers and patted the mattress at her side, smiling at him optimistically.

"The ice maidens were able to cure each sick demon in under ten minutes," Hiei pointed out. "Why is it taking you so long?"

"I'm not as strong as the ice maidens are," Botan said, drawing circles on the covers with her index finger.

Hiei narrowed his eyes as he watched her toy with her hair and gently bite her lip.

"You're trying to seduce me again," he concluded.

"You seduced me first!" she retorted, smacking a hand against the bed.

"When?" he asked. "How?"

"Always taking your shirt off and being confident in a fight, what did you expect?" she said.

"To wear my opponent down mentally with well-timed taunts and then to destroy him physically with my powers?" Hiei asked.

"Well it worked, Mister!" Botan replied.

Hiei took a breath to answer her, but sighed it out again.

"You're an idiot," he concluded. "And this can't happen. I need to find Yukina."

Botan's eyebrows shot up.

"What?" Hiei asked.

"You-you want to lie naked in bed with your own sister?" Botan asked.

"What?" Hiei barked. "Where did you get that from?"

"You won't let me cure you, so obviously you want her to cure you instead, but I've already told you that the only way to cure the virus is to be naked!"

"I don't have the virus!"

"Yes you do!"

"It's just a minor, temporary, mild, insignificant case of…"

Hiei lowered his head and began shaking again.

"I really don't feel comfortable sharing you in a naked sense with Yukina," Botan said, making him growl in frustration. "It's not that I'm uncomfortable getting naked with Yukina per se, it's that she's your sister, and even just the thought of the two of you together makes me feel icky."

Hiei started towards the door.

"I'd share you with anyone else," Botan called after him. "What about Shizuru? She's a very adventurous and capable girl!"

Botan watched the door expectantly as she heard Hiei's feet stop and then move back towards the room. He poked his head in through the doorway, glaring across the room at her through thinned, critical eyes.

"Is Shizuru the whiny one who's always hanging onto Yusuke or is she the tall rakish one who smokes?" he asked.

"The tall girl who smokes," Botan replied.

Hiei nodded.

"Shall I call her?" Botan offered.

"Isn't she Kuwabara's sister?" Hiei asked.

"Yes, but don't let that put you off," Botan replied. "Her feet are barely smelly at all."

"I'm not touching anything with the name Kuwabara."

Hiei left the room again, and, when she realised that he was not coming back again, Botan leapt from the bed and raced after him. She eventually caught up to him in a nearby bathroom, where she found him standing in front of the sink looking at his own reflection.

"When was the last time you saw Yukina?" he asked her, watching her in the mirror as he spoke.

"The day Koenma and I came here to tell you boys about the problem in spirit world," she replied.

Hiei nodded.

"Where did she sleep that night?" he asked.

"I don't know, Hiei," Botan replied. "I went back to spirit world that night."

"I don't think she did sleep that night," he said with a sigh. "I think she did something really stupid."

Botan gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth. Hiei turned to look directly at her.

"Am I right?" he asked. "My jagan eye hasn't been… Very reliable lately…"

"Romanticide!" Botan whispered.

"Don't ever do that again," Hiei warned her, pointing a finger at her nose.

"Do what? Whisper?"

"No. Don't ever combine my least favourite word with my most favourite word ever again."

Botan looking up, her lips silently moving through a series of words as she tried to figure out what he meant.

"I need to find Yukina," Hiei said, interrupting her thought process.

"Can't you just use you jagan eye like you usually do?" she asked, meeting his eyes again.

"No," he said.

"Why not?"

"Because I can't. Now you're supposed to be Yukina's friend, so where is she?"

"Oh, I see! It's like that is it? Last week my friendship with Yukina wasn't good enough for you to tell me where she was, but now that you don't know where she is all of a sudden it is important!"

"Just tell me where she is!"

"Use your jagan eye!"

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

Hiei flashed his teeth at Botan before reluctantly opening the third eye in his forehead. Botan screamed and fled the room at what she saw, and, as he turned his head and caught sight of his reflection, Hiei could understand why.

"It's just a minor, temporary, mild, insignificant case of pink eye," he muttered. "Stupid woman, she ought to understand, she has pink eyes all the time…"

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** The team arrive in spirit world, but when they report to Koenma's office they start to realise that the situation in spirit world is actually even more bizarre than the one they just overcame in demon world. They set out to find Fumio and his gang, but reaching their goal means entering a part of spirit world that is strictly off-limits to outsiders, and the only way to continue is to pass a series of increasingly difficult challenges: the second of which divides the group and forces each of them to reveal a secret about themselves that they had previously been hiding/lying about. **Chapter 25 – Truly Noble**


	25. Truly Noble

**Chapter 25: Truly Noble**

Kurama was unsure which situation bothered him more: watching Yusuke and Kuwabara rearrange the contents of the fruit bowl into an explicit sculpture of both male and female genitalia or watching Hiei push the uneaten food around his plate with a chopstick.

"You should eat up, you'll need your strength," he said to Hiei.

Hiei stopped pushing his food around and lifted his head, looking up at Kurama with large, baleful red eyes. Kurama gave him a tight smile that he hoped looked encouraging before crossing the room to the fruit bowl.

"Please stop," he said as he joined Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Check it out," Yusuke said, pointing at the particularly detailed arrangement he had just created on one side of the bowl.

"Yes, I see, very funny," Kurama patiently replied. "It looks just like a scrotum."

"A what?" Kuwabara echoed, glancing back and forth between Kurama and the fruit. "It's supposed to look like Mister Takenawa!"

"What?" Yusuke echoed.

"You said it was Mister Takenawa, Urameshi!" Kuwabara replied.

"Yeah, because Mister Takenawa is a dick!" Yusuke shouted back.

Kurama cringed as a family of demons at another table looked over; but as he saw them laugh he remembered that in demon world standards of common courtesy were somewhat lower, and so Yusuke's outburst, rather than be offensive, was in fact quite mild.

"Okay, I think we should go now," Kurama said.

"Has Hime finished fixing his hair?" Yusuke asked, rolling his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Kurama asked.

"He was in the bathroom playing with his hair for like an hour this morning!" Yusuke groaned.

"The two of you aren't much better," Kurama muttered.

Yusuke and Kuwabara both fell silent, glancing nervously at each other.

"Hey, we're not slobs!" Yusuke eventually managed.

"Yeah, and it's not like you don't still take care of your hair when we're on the road, Kurama!" Kuwabara added.

Kurama nodded and turned towards Hiei again.

"We're leaving, Hiei," he called over.

Hiei dropped his chopsticks and stood up from the table. Yusuke and Kuwabara made a few last adjustments to their fruit-sculptures and then began crossing the restaurant, arguing about something as they went. Kurama followed them slowly, holding back to wait for Hiei: which meant that he witnessed something he could scarcely believe. Hiei walked a few paces away from the table he had been dining at before stopping by the waiter and bowing his head politely.

"Thank you very much Sir, the food was delicious," he said.

Kurama was torn between wondering just how delirious the virus was making Hiei and wondering if Botan's healing magic had worn off and he was starting to contract it himself – since surely he had been hallucinating. Hiei joined him by the restaurant doors and they walked on together in silence, catching up to Yusuke and Kuwabara in the street outside.

It was still dark outside, only the faintest hint of the pending sunrise colouring the distant horizon, but it was important for them to reach spirit world as soon as possible, so they all climbed onto Puu's back and the spirit beast rose up into the dark sky, flying them towards the darkest part of the sky and the nearest portal to living world.

"So what's the plan for when we get to spirit world?" Kuwabara asked.

"We need to find Koenma," Yusuke replied. "He's the only one who really knows how bad it is there, he'll be able to tell us what we need to do and where we need to go to find Fabio."

"Fumio," Kurama corrected him. "And we don't just need to find Koenma for information's sake, we will need his assistance to traverse spirit world too."

"Huh?" Kuwabara echoed.

"Two demons, a possessed human and a warrior human can't just roam freely through spirit world," Kurama replied.

"Why not?" Yusuke asked. "We roam freely through demon world, right? Oh wait, is this because Enma's still pissed off about me being a mazoku?"

"That may also be true, but that wasn't my primary concern, no," Kurama replied. "I meant that spirit world is really only a place for spirits. There are a series of traps to prevent the non-virtuous from travelling to key locations there, including the orchard. Hiei will remember the problems we faced when we broke into the spirit world vault in King Enma's temple."

Kurama turned to Hiei expectantly. Hiei blinked back at him, his face blank.

"But you got through eventually," Yusuke pointed out. "You must have, because you got the three treasures!"

"Only because I was with Hiei and Gouki," Kurama said. "Without Koenma, we will struggle to reach the orchard. None of us are above judgement: but let me say now that any tests we may face would be best completed by myself or Kuwabara."

Yusuke screwed up his face and Kuwabara smiled.

"Why not me or Hiei?" Yusuke demanded.

"Because Hiei's evil and you never follow the rules, Urameshi," Kuwabara replied.

"Bullshit!" Yusuke yelled.

"Actually, in this instance, he is correct," Kurama said quietly. "The traps around spirit world can detect anything untoward, no matter how slight it may be. I will only be able to get us so far, after that I expect that we will be fully reliant on Kuwabara."

Kuwabara grinned and pushed out his chest proudly.

"And even then we are at the mercy of the integrity of Kuwabara's moral character," Kurama said.

Kuwabara's chest deflated and his grin vanished.

"You have good intentions, you mean well and you always strive to do what's right," Kurama told him. "But good intentions are not enough. Not for the sort of tests we will face. We will need Koenma in order to complete our journey."

"So we just find the brat and everything'll be fine," Yusuke said.

Puu passed into living world, soaring over the skies of Sarayashki city. The horizon was starting to glow and long shadows were becoming defined across the streets far below them as dawn finally arrived. Puu kept going, heading in the direction of Genkai's temple but passing through another portal long before he got there, taking the team into the night skies of spirit world.

Everyone fell silent, all looking around themselves apprehensively. It was unlike spirit world to be so devoid of life: the skies were empty of ferry girls, and the usual canary yellow glow above them was still darkened as dawn broke. As they approached the temple they could not help but notice how empty the path below them was – usually it was teeming with life, from frantic ogres to ferry girls escorting souls to the afterlife – but it was eerily silent, the air uncomfortably still. As Puu angled himself down towards the temple doors, the sound of his feathers flipping in the wind was almost welcome, and when his feet hit the ground the sound echoed off the high perimeter walls around the temple.

One by one the team leapt off his back and approached the temple entrance, where, after a short wait, they were granted access. The long entrance hallway seemed darker and colder than usual, and the team found themselves taking lighter steps and trying to hush their breathing: except Kuwabara.

"Echo!" he called out, grinning as his voice echoed back at him from two different directions.

"Shut-up!" Yusuke hissed at him.

"But it's fun!" Kuwabara loudly replied.

"Idiot…" Yusuke grumbled.

"We should remain on guard," Kurama warned them both. "Remember that when we called Koenma yesterday evening he was not in his office – we don't know why that is, the situation here could be worse than we thought."

"You think the demons might have taken control of this temple?" Hiei asked.

"Temple, temple, temple!" Kuwabara called out.

"Shut-up, idiot!" Yusuke snapped.

"Gees, you're grumpier than Hiei," Kuwabara complained.

"Hiei's too scared to be grumpy," Yusuke said, nudging Hiei and making him stumble for a few steps before regaining his balance.

"Huh, fools!" Hiei replied once he had steadied himself. "You should take Kurama's advice and remain on your guard."

"I think he's feeling better today," Yusuke whispered to Kuwabara.

Hiei scowled at Yusuke, but Yusuke returned his look with a grin. Kuwabara stopped trying to create echoes as they reached the doors to the main atrium of the temple and Yusuke leaned forwards, pressing one ear to the join between the doors. He frowned slightly in concentration, and, after a few seconds, he stepped back and shook his head. He and Kurama opened one door each, and all four grunted in surprise as they revealed that the area beyond was as empty as the hallway they had just walked the length of.

"This is just too weird," Yusuke muttered, walking in ahead of the others.

"I had a feeling this may be the case," Kurama commented, looking down at an abandoned and unusually tidy desk as he passed it.

"Seeing this place like this is scarier than being in demon world," Kuwabara said.

Hiei remained silent, looking about himself curiously, occasionally falling slightly behind as he slowed to study something that caught his interest. Kurama was the first to reach the doors to Koenma's office, and he lightly knocked and stepped back to wait to be invited in: but mere seconds later Yusuke walked past him and shouldered open one of the doors, continuing into the office without hesitation. Kuwabara shrugged and gave Kurama a small, sympathetic smile before they both followed Yusuke in, finally being joined by Hiei as they formed a line along the length of Koenma's desk.

"This mission just keeps getting weir–"

"Don't say it, Urameshi!"

Yusuke groaned and waved a hand at George, who had fallen asleep, Koenma's hat still on his head, his upper body slouched forwards over the desk.

"If Koenma isn't here, the situation can't be good," Kurama said. "He must have been forced to start towards the fight without us. We should attempt to catch up to him. As I said before, I strongly suspect we will need his help sooner rather than later if we are to reach the orchard."

"Right, let's go," Yusuke agreed.

The team started towards the exit door at the back of Koenma's office.

"Hey, if the orchard is so hard to reach, how did that Suzuka guy manage to get there?" Kuwabara asked.

"I guess we'll find out when we get there," Yusuke replied with a shrug.

"I suppose he was pretty good at playing tricks," Kuwabara said, nodding slowly.

"Trickery won't help us now," Kurama warned them as he opened the back door of the temple. "The challenges ahead of us cannot be out-foxed."

"What did you just say?" Kuwabara asked.

"He said out-foxed," Yusuke replied. "Not out-fu–"

"Yusuke, please be serious," Kurama cut him off.

"So, wait, if you're saying you can't out-fox them, does that mean you're powerless here?" Kuwabara asked as they all exited the temple. "I don't get it: why would spirit world design the tests specifically to exclude foxes?"

"Huh, idiot, that's not what he meant!" Hiei snapped irritably. "He meant we can't bluff our way through the challenges. We can't cheat, we can't cut corners and we can't lie."

"So actually, the challenges have us out-fu–"

"Shut-up, Yusuke," Kurama groaned.

Yusuke shrugged and the team continued along a misty walkway. The path was barely wide enough for them to walk in pairs with no handrails or barriers, and an infinite drop below it.

"Shouldn't we get Puu for this part?" Kuwabara asked.

"No, we have to confront these challenges ourselves," Kurama replied.

Kuwabara nodded before looking back over his shoulder at Yusuke and Hiei who were walking side-by-side behind him and Kurama.

"It's unlikely they will be of much help until we reach our destination," Kurama whispered to Kuwabara. "You and I are likely to be the only ones capable of completing the challenges."

"Because we're smarter and stronger?" Kuwabara whispered back.

"More like less-aware and more sedate."

"…What?"

"Hey Hiei," Yusuke said, nudging Hiei's shoulder with his elbow. "Have you ever "out-foxed" a girl?"

"No," Hiei flatly replied.

"Oh, I see," Yusuke said, grinning insolently. "So she "out-foxed" you, did she?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Hiei muttered.

"You're getting pissy, so now I know I'm right," Yusuke sighed.

Hiei started to answer him but was cut off as he inadvertently walked into Kurama's back. He staggered back and lowered his head, but not before Yusuke saw him blush.

"This is where it begins," Kurama told them.

Yusuke turned his attention forwards, peering over Kurama's shoulder at what lay ahead of them. His face slowly twisted, and the dread that had started to build up inside of him only multiplied when Kuwabara began to read a sign by the side of the path.

"Welcome to Justice Road. Journey time between each gate approximately one hour, total journey time approximately four hours. Please do not approach gates if not suitably prepared and qualified to open them."

"Oh hell no," Yusuke groaned in a low voice.

"What does "suitably prepared and qualified" mean?" Hiei asked.

"Now I get why it has to be me and Kurama," Kuwabara said, firing up his spirit sword. "We're gonna smash down the gates!"

He swung his sword through the air to demonstrate his point, earning himself a dark, disapproving look from Kurama.

"They won't be opened by force," Kurama told him harshly.

"Oh yeah?" Yusuke said, pointing a glowing finger over Kurama's shoulder towards the winding road ahead of them.

"Oh no," Kurama replied, pushing Yusuke's hand down. "Like I said before, these challenges aren't designed for brute physical strength."

"The gates are the challenges?" Hiei asked. "We have to complete a special task to open the gates?"

"Exactly," Kurama replied.

"What sort of tasks are they?" Kuwabara asked.

"I can only guess," Kurama said. "But if that sign you just read needs to be placed here to warn others not to approach the gates, then presumably they are not the sort of tasks an average citizen of spirit world can complete. I fear we might not get very far without Koenma, but hopefully he will have already passed by this way and we can catch up to him."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Yusuke asked. "Let's go!"

Yusuke started to run and Kuwabara quickly followed after him. Kurama nodded at Hiei and began running, with Hiei shortly following his lead: though despite seeming to be putting a lot of effort into running, Hiei fell further and further behind the others with every passing second.

* * *

Hiei swayed on the spot as he dripped with sweat and fought for breath. Kurama had never seen Hiei look so exhausted – the virus was clearly developing in his body and worsening his physical condition, making it all the more vital that they found Rui, since she was perhaps the only person Hiei would allow to cure him.

"I could probably blast it," Yusuke said, pointing at the object blocking the road.

"Funny-looking gate," Kuwabara commented. "It's more like a door."

He started towards the closed, solid swing gate but stopped as Kurama grabbed his arm.

"This is the first of the three gates, the first of our challenges," Kurama warned him. "Don't even attempt to get close to it until you've read the instructions."

Yusuke moved over to a tall narrow rock by the door, picking at the moss covering its surface.

"It doesn't look like anyone has come this way in a long time," he mused.

Kuwabara joined him and together they scraped away the moss to reveal an inscription on the flattened top face of the rock.

"Only those whose hearts and souls are loyal to the Enma Dynasty may pass this gate," Kuwabara read aloud.

"Well I guess that's me boned," Yusuke muttered.

"You're not loyal to spirit world?" Kuwabara asked him.

"I'm a demon," Yusuke pointed out.

"As are we," Kurama added, waving a hand at himself and Hiei. "Kuwabara, you should take this challenge: try to open the gate."

"Right," Kuwabara said, pushing out his chest and boldly striding up to the gate. "Because in times of trouble, Kazuma Kuwabara is always the best man for the job!"

He pulled down the latch and pushed open the gate without incident. Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei walked through it and Kuwabara followed them, smiling smugly until he lost some of his bravado after getting a scare when the gate slammed shut behind him, a faint glow passing over it.

"I don't know what you were worrying about, fox boy," Yusuke said to Kurama. "This is too easy."

"Don't be so blasé," Kurama replied. "That was a relatively simple test that Kuwabara was able to take on our behalf. Had he failed, he would have been thrown from the road and plummeted to a terrible place of pain and suffering."

"What?!" Kuwabara yelped.

"So let's hope we catch up to Koenma before we reach the next gate then," Yusuke said.

"Why didn't anyone tell me about the "plummeting to a terrible place of pain and suffering" part before I tried to open the gate?" Kuwabara asked.

"Would you have still tried if you had understood the danger?" Hiei asked.

"No!" Kuwabara replied.

"Then perhaps that's why," Hiei said.

Kuwabara eyed Hiei over, his face scrunching up as he did so.

"Oh yeah?" he said. "My life might be meaningless to you shorty, but at least I'm not so pig-headed that I can't admit when I'm not strong enough to do something."

Hiei tilted his head as though he was confused by Kuwabara's response.

"We only ran for like twenty minutes, and we weren't even going that fast, and you're already completely worn out!" Kuwabara added.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Hiei replied, as another droplet of sweat fell from the tip of his nose.

"Kuwabara makes a very valid point," Kurama said. "You're clearly not fit to make this journey."

Hiei rounded on him, spraying sweat over Kuwabara's shirt as he turned.

"You promised you would let me complete this mission with you," he said.

"And I'm not attempting to break that promise now," Kurama assured him. "I just don't think you can manage the remainder of this road unassisted."

"You can't leave me behind," Hiei said.

"I wasn't going to suggest that we did," Kurama said. "I was going to suggest that one of us should carry you."

"I'm not doing it!" Kuwabara immediately said, scowling at Hiei as he spoke.

"Maybe you should just wait here, Hiei," Yusuke suggested. "When we find Koenma, we'll send him back for you."

"I don't need Koenma to guide me through spirit world!" Hiei sternly replied.

"I think you might," Yusuke said. "If these tests are all about loving spirit world, caring about things and being patient, you're not gonna be any help to us."

"I can keep up with you," Hiei insisted. "I can keep up with all–"

"I'll carry you," Kurama cut him off.

Hiei froze, one hand still clawed in the air where he had been starting to clench it into a fist but stopped upon hearing Kurama's words.

"We don't know that we won't need Hiei's assistance at some point on this journey," Kurama told the others. "It's true that Hiei isn't loyal to spirit world and he's far from virtuous, but he is here to help save this world and stop the evil presence here, and his desire to stop what is happening is far stronger than any of ours is, and that might give him an edge over the rest of us in one of the upcoming tests."

"Do you know what the next tests are?" Kuwabara asked.

"No, but there are only two more," Kurama replied. "It seems unlikely that Hiei should be any better qualified to pass any of the tests than you or I are Kuwabara, but that's not a chance we can afford to take. Hiei, I'm carrying you."

Kurama started towards Hiei and Kuwabara turned to Yusuke, who simply shrugged.

"Spirit world is a seriously messed up place," he said.

"So messed up that Hiei could be considered cleaner than either of us?" Kuwabara asked.

"Probably," Yusuke replied. "Look at how weird Koenma and Botan are, and they're both pretty tame compared to some of the nut-jobs this place – what… The hell are you doing?"

Kuwabara turned around to see what had caught Yusuke's attention, and together they stared in confused disbelief at Kurama.

"Why did you pick him like that?" Kuwabara asked.

Kurama looked down at Hiei, who was cradled in his arms, their faces so close that their noses were almost touching.

"Why does he have his arms around your neck like that?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama turned his head to look at his shoulder furthest from Hiei's head, where he saw two bandaged hands clinging onto his shirt, one on either side of his shoulder.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys?" Kuwabara asked.

"There's nothing…" Kurama began, turning to give him a harsh glare. "There's nothing wrong with us. Or anyone. I'm just… I'm just helping a friend who is incredibly ill."

"Right…" Yusuke said, nodding his head slowly. "You're just helping him because he's sick. Even though it looks like you're getting ready to carry him off on your honeymoon…"

"It was just the easiest way to pick him up," Kurama said quietly.

"Yeah, the way he's all snuggled up to you it definitely looks like you just picked him up," Yusuke said, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"It wasn't like that," Kurama assured him.

He turned his head towards Hiei again, and again their noses narrowly missed colliding.

"It wasn't like that," he said again. "It was just…"

Kurama stiffened, a tense look of confusion passing over his eyes before he put Hiei down again, pulling the fire demon's arms from him.

"Get on my back," he said.

Hiei looked surprised and confused, but Kurama did not give him the chance to argue, instead turning his back and crouching down expectantly. He felt Hiei's hands come to rest on his shoulders, but he stopped there. Kurama looked back over his shoulder expectantly and saw Hiei looking down at him with an almost fearful look in his eyes.

"Why are you hesitating?" Kurama asked him.

"I-I can't do it…" Hiei whispered back.

"Just forget your pride and do it," Kurama insisted.

Hiei leaned closer to him.

"I don't think I can put my legs around you," he whispered.

Kurama stood abruptly and marched on along the road, leaving the others behind. Hiei reached out a hand after him, but otherwise did not move or say anything. Yusuke signalled to Kuwabara and Hiei to stay back and jogged after Kurama. By the time he had caught up to Kurama, they were far enough ahead of Kuwabara and Hiei to be well out of earshot, and so Yusuke risked talking at an ordinary conversational level.

"Hey, come on, I was just joking back there," he said. "You know that, right? I know you like girls, it was just really funny that you picked him up that way. And the way he was looking at you, it was like… Um…"

"It was like he has feelings for me," Kurama said sternly.

"Exactly," Yusuke agreed.

Kurama shot him a brief, piercing glare.

"Or not!" Yusuke hurriedly corrected himself. "We're all just feeling the pressure of everything in demon world with the ice maidens and Enki and now all this Fabio stuff ahead of us. It's no big deal."

"It is a big deal," Kurama said. "I think Hiei is in love with me."

Yusuke started to laugh, but another harsh glare from Kurama silenced him.

"I always thought Hiei slept around because he was scared of commitment, scared of being abandoned, scared of falling in love," Kurama continued. "I had no idea it was all denial about what his heart truly desired."

"Are you saying Hiei's gay?" Yusuke asked.

"How else can you explain any of this?" Kurama replied.

"Well… There was the, um… And, uh…"

"The wood nymphs were powerless against him because they could only disguise themselves as women, and they must have realised that Hiei doesn't desire women. He has always hated and been wary and distrustful around women because of the ice maidens. He has never formed any meaningful relationships with any women – he isn't even reliable or consistent with Mukuro, she constantly has to ask me to bring him back to her. I'm the first person he comes to when he needs help, I'm the only person he has ever willingly talked to about his past or his innermost thoughts, he doesn't even care that Botan is apparently offering herself to him on a silver platter, and I think he's just using this illness as an excuse to test the waters."

"Test the waters?"

"He's pushing me. He's trying to see if I feel the same way. He's so scared of rejection, he won't take the chance of being upfront and honest about his desires, rather he's trying to lure me into wanting him just as badly as he wants me!"

"Do you want him?"

"No!"

"Okay, I was just asking!"

Yusuke looked back over his shoulder, seeing Kuwabara slowly following them from some distance back and Hiei following Kuwabara from even further back. He turned back to Kurama, finding his usually serene face stern and darkened over, his shoulders tense and squared, his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides and the distinct aura that he was about to pounce on something or turn viciously violent hanging in the air around him.

"I always thought it would be pretty cool to be gay."

Kurama stopped abruptly and Yusuke stumbled to a halt at his side, turning to find the fox demon already facing him, looking almost maniacally furious.

"This isn't something I want to discuss in a puerile, jocular manner with an immature, sex-obsessed boy like you, Yusuke," he growled.

"Wow!" Yusuke said, holding up his hands. "Easy there, fox boy! I wasn't joking! I was just trying to make you feel better!"

"Well then, for both of our sakes, please stop."

Kurama turned and started off along the narrow road again, still stomping along at an almost uncomfortable pace. Yusuke hurried after him, finding that, when he did draw level with him, he had to skip a step every few steps in order to keep up with the long and fast strides Kurama was taking.

"I was serious," he said. "I do think it would be pretty cool to be gay. There are a lot of advantages to being with a guy, right?"

"You're not helping," Kurama warned him.

"Like you never have to go shopping for shoes," Yusuke continued regardless. "I bet Hiei wouldn't ever drag you around stupid shoe shops for seven hours on a Saturday just so that he could go back to the first shop you visited and buy the first pair of stupid shoes he tried on!"

"Please stop talking."

"And you'd never have to go to concerts with crappy boy-bands, or go to the cinema to watch stupid, soppy, girly movies! If you were dating a guy, you could just rock out to some decent music, go and watch a movie with car chases and guns and blood and then just have sex without all that talking about your feelings and giving massages with your clothes on – which is just damn retarded and sick!"

"You sound like you've thought about this before."

"I have! When I first started, you know, getting the urge, and then noticing girls, I got to thinking: a vagina is the most complicated thing in the world."

Kurama glanced briefly at Yusuke, some of the intensity fading from his face as he did so.

"It is!" Yusuke insisted. "If you're gay, you know exactly where to touch, how long to touch, how hard to touch and how to touch, because you have all the same equipment as the person you want to screw, right?"

"I suppose so," Kurama agreed.

"So you can practise on yourself."

"What?"

"I'm serious! We've all choked the chicken a few times, right? So you know what feels good down there, and if you get with another guy, you know how to make it feel good for him too, right? It's so much easier! With a woman, it's just chaos!"

"You don't seem to have any difficulty with women."

"I have a secret though."

"I don't want to know what it is, please don't tell me."

"When I turned fourteen, my mom gave me money instead of a birthday present, and I put it all in the coin sweeper at the arcade: I doubled the money. So then I took my winnings, and I paid a prostitute to show me her naked body."

"…When you were fourteen… You… What?"

"Yeah! Best money I ever spent! I paid her to just sit there with everything out where I could see it."

"Yusuke, that's… Unethical and just absurd!"

"It confused the shit out of me."

"I imagine it did, at fourteen years old!"

"So then, over the next six months, I beat up as many kids as I could, and stole their lunch money. Once I had enough, I went back and hired her again."

"Oh God…"

"And the second time, I got her to explain to me what all those bits were and what they did. And that was well worth it. If she hadn't taught me what she did, I'd have been lost."

"What sort of prostitute lets a minor hire her services?"

"I didn't touch her, she wouldn't let me, that was part of the deal. She just showed me which buttons to push… And which switches to flick, if you know what I mean!"

Yusuke elbowed Kurama in the ribs and winked at him, and Kurama gave him a begrudging smile in return.

"I'm not entirely surprised," he admitted. "I had always imagined that you had become involved with a woman in a physically intimate manner at a very young age, but I had always assumed it had been more innocent, more a case of you pretending to play doctors and nurses with some poor, unsuspecting girl and rather callously poking, prodding and squeezing at her until you got a positive response."

"Gee thanks, Kurama," Yusuke grumbled.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, but the problem isn't my confusion, it's Hiei's confusion," Kurama replied. "I'm not gay, but I think he is. And clearly in denial about it, because he has slept with more women than I ever have."

"Well, maybe you are sort of gay too," Yusuke said carefully. "I mean, Hiei's kinda young, and you've been around for hundreds of years, so if he's had more women than you, then… Doesn't that sort of suggest that maybe you weren't all that sure yourself?"

Kurama snorted and shook his head.

"Trust me Yusuke, I've had more than my fair share of women," he said. "The difference in number between myself and Hiei is not an indication of any shortcomings on my part, rather it's indicative of just how exceptionally promiscuous he has been. I always thought he was just compensating for his loneliness, it never once occurred to me that he was compensating for his own confusion."

"I'm just saying, it's not like Hiei's had much time to have like hundreds of women," Yusuke pointed out. "And if you've had less…"

"I've had a lot of women, Yusuke," Kurama said darkly. "A lot of women. And I really do mean a lot. I've done things with women that even a filthy little pervert like you couldn't conceive of in his wildest fantasies."

"Okay…"

"It may be more than twenty years since I last had a woman, but it doesn't mean I desire them any less."

Yusuke started to tell Kurama that he was ready to stop the conversation – since it had been getting just a little too perverse, even for Yusuke's tastes – but then he heard Kurama's words echo through his mind, and, after a brief moment of silence while he counted it out on his fingers, he found his smile again.

"More than twenty years?" he asked.

"Yes," Kurama simply replied.

"What are you like twenty-two?" Yusuke asked.

"Twelve hundred and sixty-seven."

"What? No, not your foxy age, your human age. How long have you been Shuichi?"

"Almost twenty-three years."

"Right. And you haven't been with a woman for over twenty years?"

"Not since I merged my soul with this body, no."

Yusuke gave a short laugh, stopping when Kurama turned to look at him.

"Why is that funny?" Kurama asked.

"It just seems like you're saying that Shuichi is a virgin," Yusuke replied with a shrug.

"Shuichi is a virgin," Kurama simply replied. "This body is a virgin."

Yusuke burst out laughing, falling behind Kurama as the force of his hysterics left him staggering and almost stumbling off the edge of the precarious path. He wiped a tear from the corner of one eye and ran after Kurama, grabbing his shoulder as he joined him once more.

"Seriously?" he asked. "You're seriously a virgin?"

"I'm not," Kurama replied. "But I've never had sex with a woman in this body. How could I? It would be dishonest. If I sleep with a human woman, I do so knowing that I'm hiding my true identity from her, and I've never met a demon woman who would bed a human man without having any sinister, ulterior motives behind her actions. That was why I first became interested in Botan: she knows exactly what I am, and with her, there is no lie and no fear of her trying to take advantage of me or misunderstanding what I'm truly capable of."

Yusuke nodded in understanding.

"I have desires in this body too," Kurama continued. "I've tried to ignore them, but it gets harder every time. Holding it all in makes it so hard sometimes."

Yusuke snorted and slapped a hand over his mouth.

"It's really not funny, Yusuke," Kurama said, eying him over in distaste.

"You're a virgin!" Yusuke laughed.

"No, only this body is," Kurama corrected him.

"You're twenty-three and you're a virgin!" Yusuke said.

"Shuichi is twenty-two, and I'm not a virgin."

"You work in IT support, you're twenty-three and you're a virgin!"

"You're grossly over-simplifying it."

"You work in IT support, you're twenty-three and you're a virgin – holy shit dude, you're a dork!"

"Well I'm glad my pains amuse you so."

"You're even more pathetic than Kuwabara!"

"I can't get involved with a woman as long as I exist in this form, and since I intend to remain this way for my mother's sake, I don't expect to get involved with a woman for many decades yet."

"So what you're saying now is that you work in IT support, you're twenty-three, you're a virgin and you're a momma's boy?"

"When did this change from you trying to make me feel better to you just being a dick?"

"I always thought you were the cool one, but you've really shown your true colours today, fox boy!"

"I'll take this one."

"What?"

Yusuke stopped abruptly as he realised that they had reached the second gate. Kurama continued towards it and Yusuke then realised that he was about to attempt to open it: despite the fact that he had not even looked at the mossed-over inscription on the nearby stone dais.

"Hey, wait!" Yusuke called after him as he ran towards the stone. "Shouldn't you read the instructions first?"

"I'm growing tired of this farce," Kurama harshly replied. "We're just wasting time here. For all we know, Koenma and the entire SDF could have been slaughtered by now."

"Yeah, but like you're always telling the rest of us, patience is a virtue, right?" Yusuke said as he began frantically picking the moss off of the rock. "And it's all about observation of correct protocol, and all those other weird things you say about–"

Yusuke froze as Kurama grabbed the latch of the gate. When nothing happened Yusuke straightened up from the rock, shrugging as he saw the almost accusing look Kurama was giving him.

"So maybe you're the best man for the job this time around," he said.

Kurama yanked down the latch and pushed his shoulder against the gate. In the moment that he realised it was not opening a blue flash of light passed over the gate and, before he could let go, Kurama was shocked by the gate, the reaction throwing him clear over the edge of the narrow walkway.

"Kurama!" Yusuke cried, reaching out towards him as he flew over his head.

Yusuke's fingers closed around empty air and Kurama faded from his sight as he was enveloped in the pale clouds beyond the walkway.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** For failing to be a qualified candidate to open the gate, Kurama is banished to a place of pain and torture for all eternity. Yusuke decides to read the instructions, and then one more member of the group attempts the challenge and fails just as miserably as Kurama did. The team realise they have not really understood the instructions, and when they finally do realise what is required to open the gate, it seems none of them are qualified, and their journey has come to a premature end. Meanwhile, in living world, Botan continues to try to charm her way into Hiei's life. **Chapter 26 – Timing's Necessary**


	26. Timing's Necessary

**Chapter 26: Timing's Necessary**

Kuwabara skidded to a halt at Yusuke's side and the two exchanged looks of utter horror.

"He just…" Yusuke began, indicating the gate with his hands and then waving at the point where Kurama had vanished into the infinite void beyond the path.

"Is he…?" Kuwabara asked.

"Kurama!" Hiei wailed, dropping to his knees and peering over the edge of the path.

"He didn't even read the sign!" Yusuke said.

"You did this!" Hiei hissed, turning sharply to Yusuke.

"What?" Yusuke yelped.

"You did this!" Hiei repeated, getting to his feet.

His eyes were ablaze with inconsolable rage as he started towards Yusuke, but Kuwabara quickly leapt in front of him.

"Hey, this isn't the time for fighting, you pint-sized freak!" he said. "We need to figure out a way to get Kurama back!"

Hiei stopped and moved his attention to Kuwabara, glaring up at him angrily. Kuwabara faltered slightly but did not move. He saw Hiei's breathing start to become heavier and the edges of his features start to tighten and warp until suddenly he let out a quivering, squeaking sound and his knees buckled beneath him. He staggered slightly to keep himself upright, one hand slapping against his chest and the other disappearing into his pant's pocket, fumbling desperately around for something.

"Koenma must be able to bring him back from wherever he went to, right?" Yusuke said, stepping forwards to stand alongside Kuwabara.

"Yeah that's right, Urameshi!" Kuwabara agreed. "Koenma can do anything! And we're looking for Koenma anyway, right? We just have to find Koenma, and we'll get Kurama back, right?"

"Yeah, sure, it's just… What the hell are you doing?"

Kuwabara frowned until he realised that Yusuke was directing his question at Hiei. Turning towards their smaller companion, Kuwabara watched in curious bewilderment as Hiei recovered a small lump of brown pulp that looked as though a it has once been brown paper bag, but had been soaked in water too long to be anything functional any longer. Hiei made a small squeaking sound before starting to breathe loudly, each breath shallow and redundant, the colour draining from his face and his pupils shrinking with every passing second.

"Hiei?" Yusuke said cautiously. "Hiei, just try to stay calm, okay? Kurama can handle himself, he'll be okay. He's just gone to another dimension or something, and he'll be back before we know it. Right, Kuwabara?"

"What?" Kuwabara echoed.

"Kurama'll be fine, right Kuwabara?" Yusuke replied, jabbing a sharp elbow into Kuwabara's ribs.

"Ow, uh, yeah! Right, yeah!" Kuwabara said, nodding vigorously. "Kurama'll be just fine!"

"Idiots…" Hiei croaked out. "He's… He's…"

Yusuke and Kuwabara exchanged nervous looks again.

"This isn't good," Kuwabara whispered. "We've lost Kurama, we can't find Koenma, and now Hiei is freaking out."

"Yeah, and if someone all noble and virtuous like Kurama can't open the dumb gate, it's a safe bet neither of us could either," Yusuke whispered back.

Hiei started to stagger towards the edge of the road and both Yusuke and Kuwabara raced after him, grabbing an arm each to stop him falling.

"He's gone…" Hiei said, his voice small and light. "I can't believe he's gone… I can't believe something so trivial could have defeated a warrior so mighty…"

Yusuke and Kuwabara exchanged concerned looks before both peering over the edge of the path. All three looked down at the clouds gliding past the underside of the road, the sight proving to be an almost dizzying one: and, just as they started to collectively lean back, something smacked against the path by Kuwabara's left foot. Kuwabara yelped and leapt back, almost falling over the opposite side of the path. He steadied himself and watched as a familiar thorned vine wound around the entire width of the path. Yusuke and Hiei peered over the edge of the path and Hiei whimpered pitifully.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Yusuke called down.

Kuwabara moved over to join them, peering down to see Kurama climbing back up via his Rose Whip.

"I deserved that," Kurama quietly replied, his voice almost carried away entirely by the wind below the road that was sweeping back his hair as he climbed.

"Well I did try to warn you," Yusuke said casually.

"We thought you'd been sent to limbo or something," Kuwabara said as Kurama reached the path and began pulling himself back onto it.

"Not quite," Kurama replied, hoisting himself up.

"You're okay!" Hiei gushed.

Kurama grabbed Hiei's shoulders to steady him as he almost stumbled right off the edge of the path. Hiei gazed up at him almost lovingly, which did little to ease Kurama's growing concern that his friend was misinterpreting their friendship for something more.

"What were the instructions, anyway?" Kuwabara asked.

"I dunno, I didn't finish clearing the moss away," Yusuke replied.

Yusuke and Kuwabara hurried over to the rock and swept aside the remaining moss, both scanning over the text.

"Only those who are pure and chassis may pass this gate," Yusuke read aloud.

"What?" Kurama echoed. "That doesn't make any sense!"

Kuwabara scratched his head as he scanned over the text.

"Are you sure that says chassis, Urameshi?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course!" Yusuke scoffed. "Chassis is a French word, idiot! The "T" is silent."

"Oh, right!" Kuwabara said, nodding slowly. "But it still doesn't make any sense. I thought chassis was like the base of a car."

"It is," Kurama said.

"Maybe it was a typo," Yusuke suggested. "Or a chisel-o, since it's engraved in rock, right?"

"Maybe instead of scraping the bottom of the barrel for jokes we should figure out a way to pass this gate," Kurama said harshly.

"Gees, relax, fox boy!" Yusuke retorted.

"He did nearly just fall into a pit of eternal suffering," Kuwabara pointed out. "I'd probably be a bit snippy after something like that too."

Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"Well look, it says "pure", and this is spirit world, right?" he began. "So obviously it means someone who is pure by spirit world standards. Someone who isn't a demon. Which means Hiei can't open it, since he's one hundred percent demon, and if Kurama, a demon in a human body, isn't pure enough to open it, then I won't be either – because, like Kurama and Koenma told us at the start of this stupid mission, my body is now all demon. So it has to be Kuwabara."

Kuwabara flinched and gulped as Yusuke pointed a finger at him.

"Before you even attempt it, let us not take any more chances," Kurama warned. "I was incredibly lucky not to plummet to certain death with my own reckless actions, we can't afford to take any more risks like that."

Kurama carefully released Hiei and untangled his Rose Whip from the path. He then held out the tip towards Kuwabara.

"Thread this into the belt hoops of your pants," he suggested. "Yusuke and I will hold onto the other end, just in case you fail."

"I don't know if I want to do this…" Kuwabara muttered.

"We can't just hang around here for the rest of our lives!" Yusuke snapped.

Kuwabara sighed and accepted the end of Kurama's Rose Whip, doing as Kurama had suggested and threading it through his belt hoops and then tying the end back onto the body of the vine. He looked up at Kurama and Yusuke as they both gripped onto the handle with both hands. They nodded at him to indicate that he should continue and he reluctantly nodded back. He turned to the gate and took a deep breath. He muttered a few concerns to himself as he reached for the latch of the gate, but when nothing happened upon him closing his fingers around it he sighed and relaxed.

"Sometimes it pays to be human!" he said confidently as he pulled down on the latch.

An instant later, Kuwabara was airborne and screaming. Yusuke and Kurama braced themselves as his weight caught against the Rose Whip, both peering over the edge of the path at Kuwabara's terrified and pale face looking back up at them.

"What the hell went wrong?" he cried.

"I don't know," Kurama called back to him. "Let's get him back up here," he said to Yusuke.

"Right," Yusuke agreed, pulling on the Rose Whip. "So I guess that even though Kuwabara's pure, he's not chassis enough to take the challenge."

Kurama screwed up his face.

"It doesn't make sense, Yusuke," he said. "Are you absolutely sure that it said "chassis"?"

"I'm not an idiot, Kurama!" Yusuke snapped irritably.

"I don't get why they would use a French word on a spirit world sign," Kuwabara said as he managed to hook one elbow onto the path.

"Because all the complicated things come from France," Yusuke said.

"I guess the most famous philosophers of the world are French," Kuwabara agreed.

"It doesn't matter that the word is originally a French word, it is a loanword, is has no equivalent and therefore means the same in any language," Kurama pointed out. "However we look at it, it means the framework of a car, and that makes no sense."

"Nothing in spirit world makes any sense," Yusuke said. "Hadn't you noticed that before?"

Kurama checked that Kuwabara was safely on the path before dropping his Rose Whip and marching up to the engraving to read it for himself. He sighed at what he saw.

"See?" Yusuke called over to him. "Pure and chassis!"

"No, Yusuke," Kurama flatly replied. "It says "pure and chaste"."

"…No, that's not how you pronounce it," Yusuke corrected him. "It's French, the "T" is silent. It's pronounced "chassis"."

"Chassis is spelt C-H-A-S-S-I-S," Kurama pointed out.

"…Cha-sis? That doesn't make any sense!"

"And a sign asking for a person who is "pure and chassis" does make sense?"

Yusuke scowled.

"It's says chaste," Kurama insisted.

"What the hell does "chaste" mean?" Kuwabara asked. "It sounds sort of… Rude…"

"How so?" Yusuke asked him.

"Well it sort of sounds like the word "chastity"," Kuwabara pointed out.

"So only a girl in metal padlocked panties can open the gate?" Yusuke asked, turning to Kurama.

Kurama sighed quietly, his shoulders slumping.

"That's a chastity belt, Yusuke," he said.

"No it's not a belt, it like a pair of panties with a padlock on them," Yusuke argued.

"No, Yusuke," Kurama insisted. "Think about it: what are all residents of spirit world that virtually no adults of demon world or living world are?"

"Stupid?" Yusuke suggested.

"Eternal?" Kuwabara volunteered.

"Blue?" Yusuke tried.

"Weird?" Kuwabara asked.

"Virginal."

Yusuke and Kuwabara turned sharply to Hiei, who looked as though saying the word had left a sickening taste in his mouth.

"Correct," Kurama replied. "We can't pass this gate without a representative from spirit world. Since it's clear that Koenma has gone on ahead without us, we need to find another. A ferry girl or an ogre would suffice… Clearly this was another reason why Fumio needed to take an ice maiden. He must have known that tests such as these existed here. That was why he needed a virgin."

"This is a joke, right?" Yusuke asked, turning back to Kurama. "No way does that gate seriously need a virgin to open it! That's the dumbest test ever!"

"Also an accurate way of wheedling out the impure and non-native trespassers," Kurama plainly replied. "I feared something like this may face us, but I had hoped that we would find Koenma before we got this far."

"So what do we do now?" Kuwabara asked.

"We have to turn back," Kurama replied. "Or at least, the fastest of us has to go back and get someone who can open this gate out here."

"Well since Hiei's too sick, I guess that's me," Yusuke said. "I'll go back."

He turned and started to take off back along the path but was forced to skid to a halt as Hiei stepped into his path.

"You don't have to do that, Yusuke," Hiei said gently. "It would just be a waste of time. There is another way, a way that we can open that gate without getting help from anyone else."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, Hiei!" Yusuke snapped. "Unless you're about to tell us that you're a virgin?"

Hiei hung his head and stepped past Yusuke, starting towards the gate. Yusuke turned to watch him go, his eyes wide with amazement. Kuwabara watched Hiei go with equal surprise, but Kurama took on a look of irritation and lunged at Hiei, grabbing his arm and yanking him away from the gate as he tried to reach out and attempt to open it.

"Don't be such a fool!" he spat. "You and I both know that you're the most sexually active of us all!"

Hiei shook his head, which only infuriated Kurama further.

"This is not the time for you to rush in foolishly and almost get yourself killed, as is your typical, thoughtless approach to everything!" Kurama hissed.

"Rush in foolishly and almost get himself killed?" Yusuke repeated. "You mean like how you just did?"

Kurama faltered, his grip on Hiei's arm lessening.

"I'm going back for help," Yusuke said.

"No! You don't have to!" Hiei insisted.

Yusuke turned and ran off and Hiei jerked his shoulder out of Kurama's grasp.

"This is wasting time!" he said as Kurama turned on him.

"Just sit down and use the opportunity to rest," Kurama sternly told him. "You'll need your energy for the next leg of the journey."

"But I can–"

"Sit down."

Hiei opened his mouth to argue, but another stern glare from Kurama silenced him.

"Hey!" Yusuke yelled.

Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara turned to see him running back towards them, looking furious.

"Hey, what the hell?" he yelled.

He ran into Kuwabara, almost throwing him off the path. Kuwabara staggered precariously close to the edge, peering down warily over his shoulder as he righted himself once more.

"Why the hell didn't the gate open for you?" Yusuke snapped as Kuwabara turned to him.

"It only opens for…" Kurama began. "Wait… That's a good point. Why didn't the gate open for you, Kuwabara?"

"It didn't open for you either, Kurama!" Kuwabara pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess your record as a fox counted," Yusuke said, eying Kurama over. "Since you're a virgin in that body…"

"What?" Hiei echoed, glancing back and forth between Yusuke and Kurama.

"But why the hell didn't it open for you?" Yusuke asked, turning to Kuwabara again. "Did Yukina finally put out?"

"Shut-up!" Hiei yelped.

Kuwabara looked over at Hiei nervously.

"Uh, no, it wasn't like that," he said sheepishly.

"So then when did you ever get lucky with a girl?" Yusuke demanded.

"Well, you know, in my first year at college, there was Ayame…" Kuwabara said quietly.

"You slept with Ayame?" Yusuke echoed. "But she was hot!"

"I know she was hot!" Kuwabara snapped.

"But why didn't you tell us about it?" Yusuke asked, waving a hand between himself and Kurama and Hiei.

"Because I don't think it's nice to talk about it," Kuwabara replied quietly. "I think it's really disrespectful the way you go on and on about all the things you do with Keiko. I wouldn't talk about a girl like that, it's not right."

"You are so lame, Kuwabara! I thought you'd at least tell us you'd managed to make a girl sleep with you!"

Kuwabara muttered something, rubbing a hand at the back of his neck and turning from Yusuke.

"What did you just say?" Yusuke echoed.

"Three?" Kurama said. "Who were the other two?"

"What?" Yusuke yelped. "You've slept with three girls?"

"Yeah, but I don't like to brag about it, okay?" Kuwabara snapped. "It's not something you're supposed to go on and on about like you do!"

"God damn it! How can you have slept with more women than me?"

Yusuke clapped a hand over his mouth, turning suddenly very pale and then slowly very red.

"Three is more than you?" Kurama asked. "Meaning you've only slept with two women?"

"Or maybe just Keiko…" Kuwabara said, grinning slyly.

"Shut the hell up!" Yusuke snapped. "You guys are all dick-holes!"

He spun on his heels and took off back the way they had come, this time running faster than before and disappearing from sight in mere seconds. Once Yusuke was out of sight Kuwabara slowly turned to Kurama.

"Well that was…" Kurama began.

"Unbelievable!" Hiei finished for him. "The way he talks about the female anatomy he would have us all believe that he has seen more than just Keiko's naked body!"

"Well he has seen more than just Keiko naked, actually," Kurama said.

"I don't think he has, you know," Kuwabara said. "He got really pissed off just then."

"He has," Kurama insisted. "On the way here, he told me he paid a prostitute to give him a guided tour of her nether regions."

Kuwabara snorted into his hand in amusement.

"Wouldn't it be ironic if that was the only woman he had ever seen naked?" Hiei said quietly.

"Don't be ridiculous, Hiei!" Kurama said. "Keiko may well present the façade of a good girl to you and I, but I have no doubt that she is secretly every bit the pervert behind closed doors. Girls like her always are. They are almost ashamed of their own sexuality, but, get them naked and alone, and they show a completely different side of themselves."

"You sound like you know what you're talking about…" Kuwabara said slowly. "Have you and Keiko ever…?"

"No, of course not!" Kurama replied. "But I've been with girls like her before. They are perhaps the best kind: quiet, polite, traditional and dignified on the outside, but secretly hiding a wilder aspect of their nature, a side they only share with one person. It makes such a union all the more intense and passionate."

"Really?"

Kurama turned to Hiei, finding him smiling up at him optimistically, one finger twirling around a strand of hair by the back of his neck.

"It hardly applies to you, Hiei," Kurama pointed out.

Hiei opened his mouth, holding up one finger as though to argue the point; but hesitated as Kurama narrowed his eyes threateningly.

"Just sit down," Kurama told him.

Hiei sighed and sat down by Kurama's feet, hanging his head miserably.

* * *

Botan smiled as she began to waken, stretching her arms up and then out at her sides. When she felt nothing but bed-sheets on the bed with her she opened her eyes and sat up abruptly, looking about the room with desperate twists of her neck.

"Hiei?" she called out.

She threw off the covers and scrambled out of the bed, charging across the room and tearing open the door. She ran up and down the length of the hallway beyond, calling for Hiei as she went, but she received no reply. She darted into the living room, where she had removed his clothes the night before, but found that his clothes and his sword, just like Hiei himself, had vanished.

"Oh, cornflakes!" she cursed, stamping a bare foot against the wooden floor and punching a fist downwards. "Typical Hiei! Just like Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama! Always running off on an adventure and leaving me behind!"

Botan padded her way through the temple, only pausing as she passed a mirror and was reminded that she was completely naked. She paused long enough to realise that she was completely alone in an isolated temple before deciding that it was fun to walk about naked for a change and then she continued into the kitchen where she began preparing herself a breakfast. As she worked she wondered where Hiei had run off to: after all, all she had done for him the night before was to clear the infection in his jagan eye. She had yet to work on completely curing him of the lingering presence of the virus he had been suffering from, and although he was healthier, he was still not back to full strength. His jagan eye, however, was at least once more fully functional.

* * *

Yusuke dropped to his knees as he rejoined the team by the gate.

"You couldn't find anyone to help us?" Kuwabara asked him.

Yusuke gave him a threatening glare as a small chunk of his hair fell from his head.

"You couldn't get back through the first gate," Kurama said.

"No, I couldn't," Yusuke confirmed, wiping a grubby hand across his forehead. "There's a sign on this side of the gate that says it's one-way only. I tried forcing it, and I got fried by some kind of lightning five times."

A frazzled piece of fabric fell from Yusuke's torn shirt as though to underline his point.

"I tried," he insisted. "But I guess we're stuck here."

"We can't be stuck here!" Kuwabara wailed.

"Well we are," Kurama told him. "Until Koenma finds us. Perhaps you should try calling him, Yusuke."

"I did," Yusuke said. "After the gate fried me, I called his office, and that idiot ogre answered it. It was like he'd just woke up. He got all panicky and then cut me off. This stupid mission!"

"What if nobody ever finds us here?" Kuwabara asked.

"Once Koenma returns to his office, we can call him," Kurama replied. "Or perhaps we could call Botan?"

"Yeah, I tried that too," Yusuke said.

"And?" Kurama pressed.

"Keiko answered it," Yusuke replied. "She was all panicky too, so I cut her off."

"Why would Keiko have Botan's communication mirror?" Kurama asked.

"I don't know," Yusuke sighed. "I can't believe we're stuck here now! This blows!"

Hiei slowly stood up.

"Well, actually, we're not stuck here," he said softly. "We can proceed with our journey. One of us just has to open the gate."

"None of us can open the gate," Kurama reminded him. "Not unless you're about to tell us that, due to your apparent confusion about your own true desires, you've never followed through with any of the women you've ever laid down with, and are, therefore, a virgin?"

Hiei gulped and lowered his head to watch his hands as his fingers knitted together in front of him.

"You're wrong," he said quietly. "You're wrong about me and you're wrong about none of us being able to open the gate."

"Kuwabara was our only real hope," Kurama replied.

"Or you, since Shuichi's a virgin," Kuwabara pointed out.

"Right, and neither of us were successful," Kurama agreed. "Therefore none of us can open that gate."

"One of us can," Hiei insisted, lifting his head and meeting Kurama's eyes.

He sighed softly, moving his eyes to Kuwabara and then Yusuke.

"Before I do this, I want to say that I'm so sorry, Yusuke," he said. "And Kaz–"

Hiei turned to Kuwabara as though to address him next, but he was cut off as Yusuke leapt to his feet and grabbed handfuls of his shirt, almost lifting him clean off the ground. Hiei yelped in shock as Yusuke leaned over him, their noses almost touching.

"You listen to me, you dirty little son of a bitch, and you listen good," Yusuke snarled at him. "When we finish this mission, so help me God I am gonna find the rustiest, bluntest melon baller, and I am gonna gouge that stupid, ugly, interfering, freaky eye out of your tiny little forehead!"

"Wh-what?" Hiei whimpered.

"I told you never to read my mind, you bastard!" Yusuke yelled.

He roughly released Hiei, who fell back onto his backside, looking as shocked and confused as Kurama and Kuwabara did when Yusuke then stomped towards the gate.

"Yusuke, no!" Kurama cried, scrambling up as Yusuke grabbed the latch of the gate.

Yusuke barked out a string of particularly offensive curse words before yanking open the gate and passing through it.

"What the…?" Kuwabara muttered.

Yusuke spun around, glaring back at Hiei, who was watching him with wide, startled eyes.

"Don't act like this isn't what you were really getting at all along, you bastard!" he yelled, pointing back at Hiei as he spoke. "You read my mind, and you knew I was the only one here who could open this stupid gate!"

"You're a virgin?" Kurama asked.

"It's not like that!" Yusuke replied, his voice cracking and rising up a pitch. "It's just that Keiko wants to wait until we get married, and every time I try to get close to another girl, my mazoku genes take over and I get those all blue marks appearing and it freaks girls out!"

"You mean those markings that appear over your face and chest?" Kurama asked.

"Those aren't so bad, because I can pretend those are tattoos," Yusuke replied. "It's those weird stripes that appear on my dick!"

Someone started to laugh and Yusuke roared out in rage.

"It's not funny, you assholes!" he yelled. "So what if I've never actually done it with a girl? It's not like it… It's not like I… I just…"

"But you're always talking about doing stuff with Keiko," Kuwabara pointed out. "Was that all lies?"

"Obviously it was," Hiei said.

"You shut-up, short stack!" Yusuke snapped. "This is all your fault!"

"It's not my fault Keiko won't consent to make love to you and that all other females are repulsed by your striped appendage," Hiei quietly replied.

The laughter became louder and Yusuke stomped back through the gate, glaring around his three team-mates.

"Stop laughing!" he squealed.

"What about that story you told me about paying the prostitute to educate you about a woman's body?" Kurama asked.

"That was true!" Yusuke said.

"But you said it was the best money you'd ever spent," Kurama said slowly.

"Again, that was true!"

"Well, not really, for all the use you've been able to make of the knowledge you gained…"

The laughter became hysterical.

"Stop laughing!" Yusuke screamed.

Kuwabara looked at Kurama and then Hiei.

"But none of us are laughing," he pointed out.

"That was the funniest thing I've ever seen!"

Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei looked back over their shoulders to see Koenma, in his adult form, doubled over behind them, laughing hysterically. Yusuke cursed and kicked at the stone pillar by the gate.

"I came here… Because I thought for sure… That none of you would get past this gate," Koenma said between fits of laughter.

"How long have you been standing there?" Yusuke asked.

"Not that long," Koenma said, straightening up and wiping the tears from his eyes. "I would have been here a lot sooner, but the ogre forgot to wake me up on time. So I got here just before Hiei stood up to out you."

"You got here before I opened the gate?" Yusuke growled.

"Yes," Koenma replied.

"And you didn't say anything?"

"If I had said something, if I had stepped forward and opened the gate, we never would have found out that you're a virgin, Yusuke."

"Exactly!"

Koenma started to laugh again and Kuwabara began to snigger into his hands.

"You're a bigger virgin than me!" Yusuke yelled, pointing at Koenma accusingly.

"He's a baby," Hiei pointed out. "We wouldn't expect any less."

"Shut-up, Hiei!"

Hiei started to smile.

"Don't you dare laugh!"

Hiei covered his mouth with his hands and Kurama began to chuckle quietly.

"You guys are really starting to piss me off!" Yusuke shouted. "Each and every God damn one of you!"

"Careful Yusuke, we don't want you to get too emotional," Kurama said solemnly.

"Why not?" Koenma asked.

"It wouldn't be a good look," Kurama replied. "Stripes with those pants?"

Koenma and Kuwabara burst out laughing and Yusuke stormed through the gate.

"Screw you guys!" he shouted before slamming the gate shut between them.

Koenma shrugged and reopened the gate, waving a hand for Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara to pass through ahead of him. By the time they had all passed through, Yusuke had marched off into the distance, still clearly irate.

"Well that was educational," Koenma said, looking around the others. "And entertaining!"

"This mission has been the most educational and entertaining event of my life," Hiei said.

"You're so weird," Kuwabara muttered, eying Hiei over.

"And still sick, I see," Koenma said with a sigh. "How unfortunate. I had hoped that Botan would have found you by now."

"What?" Kurama echoed. "We thought that Botan was here in spirit world?"

"She was," Koenma replied. "Until she took it upon herself to flee from this safe haven. I tried to stop her, and I went to living world to try to find her, but to no avail."

"So then where is she?" Kurama asked.

"I don't know," Koenma replied, shaking his head solemnly. "She did go to living world initially, but when I went there in search of her, she had already moved on. She left her communication mirror behind, so I can't even call her. She said she was leaving because she had to help Hiei. I assumed she had used the Demon Compass to find you."

"Um…" Hiei began, glancing nervously at Kurama. "No?"

"She was desperate to get to you," Koenma said. "She's very fond of you. I don't need to tell you that though, right? Not after that little SCD34124 she put across my desk last month, right?"

Koenma made a growling sound and wiggled his eyebrows at Hiei, who simply shook his head in reply, his eyes large and questioning.

"Playing it sly, huh?" Koenma said. "I guess only those who don't get any action talk about it – like Yusuke just demonstrated!"

Kuwabara and Koenma started laughing again and both began following after Yusuke. Hiei started to go after them but stopped as Kurama put a hand on his shoulder. He looked back at the fox demon expectantly.

"What's a "SCD34124"?" Kurama asked quietly.

"I have no idea, I swear," Hiei quietly replied.

Kurama gave him a scrutinising glare before slowly moving his hand from his shoulder.

"I'm going to trust you in this instance," he said before stepping past Hiei and following the others.

Hiei remained behind, watching him go.

* * *

Botan was getting bored. She had been awake for hours and there was nothing for her to do. She decided she would go into the city and visit Keiko and Shizuru in the hope that she could perhaps convince them to team up with her and try to solve the mystery of what was really going on in spirit world. And, with that idea in mind, she headed for the front door of the temple to retrieve her oar, which she had last left standing in the umbrella stand by the door. But as she stepped into the hallway she stopped short, momentarily stunned into silence when she saw a breathless, sweating figure standing by the open door, holding her oar in his hands, inspecting it meticulously.

"Hiei?" she whispered.

His head snapped up and his eyes met hers.

"Hiei!" she said cheerfully, bouncing towards him.

"This isn't your usual weapon," he said, thrusting the oar out towards her, causing her to halt abruptly before she collided with it.

"No, I broke my oar," she explained, taking the oar from him. "This was a gift from Princess Mukuro."

"Mukuro?" Hiei echoed. "When were you – wait, Princess?"

"I went to demon world to look for you," Botan explained. "I just wanted to cure you of your sickness. And maybe also remind you about our little agreement. Do you know how long it took me to find form SCD34124 in the spirit world document control centre?"

"Shut-up, shut-up, I'm trying to think!" Hiei said, waving a dismissive hand at her. "So… If you really did go to demon world, and you really do call Mukuro "Princess", then that means I didn't imagine that… I thought that was another trick my jagan eye was playing on me when it was malfunctioning. But if that really happened… What about…?"

Hiei pushed past Botan and marched briskly down the hall. Botan threw down her oar and hurried after him, catching up to him as he entered Yukina's bedroom. He flung the mattress off the bed and dropped to his knees, grabbing up the numerous poems and pictures that had been concealed there, his eyes growing wider and his snarl growing fiercer with every page he touched.

"You know I thought you handled this situation with remarkable grace, Hiei," Botan said, kneeling down beside him. "That day Kurama found these, and you just calmly discussed it with him… It was so unlike you. I was sure you would have been furious if you had ever found out that Yukina had a cute little crush on your best friend."

"I'm going to eviscerate that fucking fox," Hiei growled, rising to his feet with handfuls of papers that burned to ashes in a flash of black flames.

"What?" Botan yelped, leaping to her feet.

"I thought it was the virus…" Hiei said, staggering from the room. "I thought I was imagining it…"

Botan darted after him, almost running straight into him as she found him stopped in the hallway by a display of swords. He was running a finger along the lowest rung, which was empty.

"She took this sword," he said quietly.

"Who did?" Botan asked. "Yukina?"

"Yes," Hiei replied.

"Oh my goodness!" she gasped. "But why?"

"She took it out there, to the bird," Hiei replied, pointing towards the back of the temple.

He strode off in the direction he was pointing and Botan hurried after him, following him out of the back of the temple and across the lawn to Puu's barn.

"Here," he said, pointing at the barn door. "She came here. To the bird. She collected the bird, and then she took the bird and the sword…"

Hiei turned around completely on the spot before staggering a step and touching a hand to his head.

"Oh, Hiei, you're still sick!" Botan said, putting an arm around his shoulders to steady him.

"I thought you cured me," he grumbled.

"I cured your eye and eased some of your symptoms, but to properly cure you, I need you awake," she explained.

He sighed and stepped out of her embrace. He pulled off his shirt and began unfastening the belts of his pants.

"What are you doing?" Botan asked him.

"How many hours do we have to lie naked together for this to work?" he asked.

"Um…"

"I don't have much time here, woman!"

"Well, there is another way…"

Hiei stopped short, his hands bunched around his pants, which he had already pushed halfway down his thighs.

"I'm not having sex with you," he said quietly.

"But you signed the SCD34124 form!" Botan complained.

"That wasn't a sex contract," Hiei said slowly. "Was it?"

Botan nodded.

"Oh."

Botan sighed.

"It doesn't mean that you're obliged to be with me," she said forlornly. "But I thought you wanted to be. That first night we fooled around, you said the only reason you wouldn't take it any further was because you didn't want to get in trouble with spirit world, which was why I got the form in the first place. Lord Koenma gave it a stamp of approval and everything."

"Hn."

Botan looked down at the ground for a moment before grinning slyly and looking into Hiei's eyes again.

"I have cherry-vanilla syrup in the temple," she said.

Hiei twitched.

"Cherry-vanilla flavour?" he asked. "Not cherry flavour, not vanilla flavour, but cherry-vanilla flavour?"

Botan nodded.

"Hn."

"I could prepare myself for you?"

Hiei released his pants, allowing them to fall to his ankles.

"Can I watch you do that?" he asked.

Botan nodded.

"Alright fine," he agreed. "But after forty minutes I'm ending it. I don't care if neither of us has peaked, it ends after forty minutes, understand?"

"Of course," Botan agreed.

"I do have important things I need to do and other places I need to be," he reminded her.

"You wait here, I'll get the syrup."

"Hn."

* * *

"Is this the last one?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes," Koenma confirmed, looking ahead at the gate they were approaching. "After this it's just a short walk into the rural area of spirit world."

"Thank goodness," Kurama said.

Yusuke was still far ahead of them and already almost at the gate.

"What are the pre-requisites for opening this…" Kurama began. "Gate…" he finished as Yusuke kicked the gate open and stormed through it.

"The inscription, had he bothered to check it, reads "Only those who will use their strength for the greater good of Spirit World may pass this gate"," Koenma replied. "And I suppose, since Yusuke is now looking to fight the enemy present here, he qualifies to open that gate."

"That was lucky," Kuwabara muttered.

They continued on in silence, passing through the gate and walking around a wide curve in the path, through misty skies, before suddenly reaching a long, open stretch of path that led onto an expanse of land in the middle distance, beyond which lay a rolling mountain range. Yusuke had stopped and Koenma, Kurama and Kuwabara stopped behind him.

"What the hell happened here?" Kuwabara asked quietly.

"This happened two days ago," Koenma replied. "Even though we isolated their weapon supply, the demons still managed to reach the orchard within the original seven-day stretch I predicted they would. And that's not all. The situation here has deteriorated quite rapidly in the past few days. This isn't the worst of it."

Kurama moved ahead of the others, scanning across the barren landscape ahead of them, the occasional lifeless shard of wood sticking out of the ground the only lasting clue as to what had once occupied that stretch of land.

"They're all gone," he said quietly. "How can it get any worse than this?"

"We think we have seeds to replace them all," Koenma assured him. "But clearly this is why the demons took an ice maiden with them. They made her destroy every tree in the orchard, including the Tree of Previous Life."

"How did this happen?" Kurama demanded. "Where are the SDF?"

Koenma lowered his head.

"Damn it…" Yusuke muttered.

Kuwabara and Kurama turned to him expectantly.

"They've been killed, or kidnapped, or disabled, haven't they?" Yusuke asked Koenma.

"Two out of three, actually," Koenma replied. "Captain Ootake has been taken hostage, five of the other eight officers have been incapacitated, and the remaining three are fighting to stop the bandits moving any further inward."

Kuwabara looked about himself, turning around in a complete circle.

"Hey you guys?" he said. "Where's Hiei?"

"He fell behind," Kurama replied, his eyes still on the shattered remains of the orchard. "He's still too stubborn to admit how sick he is, he'll catch up to us eventually. I suggest we continue on to the orchard and wait for him there. I want to examine the damage for myself, and we may find a clue there as to where our enemy is now."

"Right," Yusuke agreed. "You guys go ahead."

"What are you gonna do?" Kuwabara asked him.

"Wait here for Hiei, in case he can't get through the gate," Yusuke muttered.

"Good idea," Koenma agreed.

He nodded at Kurama and, along with Kuwabara, they continued on their journey.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Botan heals Hiei completely, and, in his recovered state, Hiei leads Botan to the bloody evidence of Yukina's sacrifice. In spirit world, the team realise that Fumio and his gang have devastated much of spirit world and they will have quite the task hunting him down and stopping his rampage from causing further chaos. Meanwhile, after losing one of his hostages, Fumio makes an interesting discovery through using one of the spirit detective items in a way none of the others thought to throughout this entire fic (maybe if Yusuke hadn't screwed around using it to spy on the ice maidens in the back of the truck and instead used it somewhere else close by, for example). **Chapter 27 – Teamwork Needed**

"Space Core Directive 34124: No officer with false teeth should attempt oral sex in zero gravity".


	27. Teamwork Needed

**A/N:** Thanks again to everyone who is reading and especially to those who endured my extended absences.

"But then I was followed by a fox, a flea and a pervert..."

* * *

 **Chapter 27: Teamwork Needed**

Hiei dropped to his knees and began clawing through the leaves and loose dirt around the base of the hollowed out tree in the forest by the temple steps. Botan was running after him, half-dressed, calling out his name desperately, but he intentionally ignored her cries. He finally had his full strength and powers returned to him, and, disconcertingly, he also now knew that none of the visions that had been haunting him were the result of illness-induced delusion.

Botan joined him as he uncovered the first chunk of silky-soft sea-green hair.

"Oh my goodness, Yukina!" Botan wailed, stumbling over to Hiei's side.

Hiei continued swiping aside the leaves, uncovering two large chunks of Yukina's hair and then all of her clothing – her hand-stitched blue kimono, her red yukata, her dark blue obi, her sandals and her tabi socks. There were bloody fingerprints strategically placed over her clothing: at the opening of her kimono, the tops of her socks, the heels of her sandals and the fastening of her obi.

"Romanticide!" Botan gasped. "I was right all along!"

"It's lucky that you have other, ample talents, woman," Hiei sharply replied. "Because you're a damn awful detective. Yukina's not dead."

"But her clothes are bloody and she's cut off all of her beautiful, beautiful hair!" Botan sobbed, clutching her hands by her chest as tears began to spill from her eyes. "All this time, you told me she was safe! Why did you lie to me like that?"

Hiei shook his head and stood up. Botan stood up in front of him, glaring at him angrily.

"Yukina hid herself underneath Yusuke's pet pigeon and overheard Koenma talking about the problems in spirit world and demon world," Hiei explained. "She also heard them talking about me. She heard Kurama say that I was in a healing chamber in Mukuro's basement. She wanted to help me get better and she wanted to be sure that no-one else would contract the illness. So she took the sword from the temple and she came out here, to this point in the forest."

"And she stabbed herself with the sword!" Botan said, pointing at Yukina's stained clothing.

"Not quite," Hiei replied. "She's been training with a sword recently."

"…What?"

"She wanted to learn how to fight. She's been doing it in secret. I didn't try to stop her because I didn't think she would ever try to put her learned skills to use. She used the sword to cut the length off her hair and to draw blood."

"So she did stab herself!"

"No, she just broke the skin on her fingertip. She needed the blood to seal the wards. She used that book you gave her from spirit world to find the correct talisman combinations to protect herself. She wrote them on cloth in her own blood to strengthen them and bind them to her soul and to her powers. The bird tried to stop her, but she contained it behind a barrier. She has learned how to create a sound-proof barrier, the bird couldn't even call for help."

"Magic evil bubble!"

"What?"

"The magic evil bubble you made me see! It was the sound-proof barrier trapping Puu!"

"…"Magic evil bubble"…?"

"That's why Puu kept attacking me! He took Yusuke to this exact point in the forest, and this is the exact place where he pushed me out of the sky when I came here with Keiko! He was trying to show us that Yukina's clothes were here! He was trying to tell us what she had done! And those runes you were showing me in my mind, they were the ones she used to disguise herself!"

"…Now you figure it out… Anyway, Yukina mixed up a cloth dye in two mixing bowls, she painted it onto her hair, she dressed in clothing that was not her own, and she did the most stupid thing she possibly could have done."

"…What's that?"

"She went to demon world with the fox, the fool and the pervert."

Botan tilted her head, her eyes rolling up towards the sky in thought.

"Why would Yukina go to demon world with Koto, George and Lord Koenma?" she eventually asked, frowning at Hiei curiously.

Hiei started to growl in frustration, but before he could respond, they were joined in the forest by a dull and plain ferry girl. Botan gasped, pointing at her in amazement.

"All ferry girls have been ordered to return to duty," she told Botan. "King Enma's orders, there is a backlog of lost souls to be gathered, we're all working double-shifts for the next seven days."

"The virus must be under control!" Botan said to Hiei.

"Well at least that's one less complication," Hiei said. "But now we need to get to Yukina."

"Right!" Botan said, holding up her oar. "You know, this is a lovely oar, and I am terribly grateful to Princess Mukuro for commissioning it for me, but it's just not as nimble as my usual oar."

"Why not?" Hiei asked. "Do you need you own oar specifically, or would any oar from spirit world work?"

"Any oar from spirit world would work," Botan replied. "It's the type of wood used, you see."

"Perfect," Hiei said, snatching the dull ferry girl's oar from her hand. "For once spirit world did something useful in a timely manner."

He pushed the oar into Botan's free hand and then took her makeshift oar from her, throwing it down at the other ferry girl's feet.

"Let's go," he said to Botan.

She looked over at the other ferry girl warily.

"I-I am sorry," she said, climbing onto the stolen oar. "I'll give it back, I promise. But right now, I have a much greater need of it than you."

"I'm trying to collect a backlog of lost souls!" the ferry girl argued. "What could possibly be more important than that?"

"I'm going on an adventure!" Botan cried gleefully as she rocketed up into the sky before Hiei was even fully seated at her side.

Hiei cursed and righted himself as they burst through the clouds.

"To demon world?" she asked him.

"No," he said. "To spirit world."

* * *

Kurama rubbed his fingers through a handful of dirt. What had become of the spirit world orchard was quite devastating, and, as he looked around the pitiful remains of the once bountiful trees, Kurama could not help but wonder if he had wasted the last week in demon world. It seemed as though the days the team had spent rescuing and hiding the ice maidens would have been much better invested in fighting the problem in spirit world. In fact, he thought to himself, they should never have left spirit world after they had first arrived there upon finding the portal there from demon world.

He stood up and wiped his hands together to clear away the excess dirt. Kuwabara was trying to replant an uprooted seedling, Koenma was walking between the trees with his head down and his hands in his pockets and Yusuke was sitting on one of the few flat tree stumps, looking up at the sky. Kurama started towards Yusuke, but stopped after just one step when he heard a twig snap. He turned in time to bring up an elbow to catch the fist flying towards his head. With the other hand Kurama reached into his hair and retrieved a blade of grass, swinging it around towards his attacker. The blade doubled in length as he brought it around and sliced open a bloody gash in the mid-section of the demon before him, who cried out and leapt back. Yusuke punched the demon in the face, sending him to the ground before ducking down as a second demon leapt at his back.

Kurama glanced back to see Kuwabara cutting down a third demon with his spirit sword and Koenma fleeing from a fourth attacker.

"Where are these bastards coming from?" Yusuke shouted as he kicked down the demon who had tried to attack him from behind.

Kurama took out his Rose Whip and brought it down over the two demons before him. He and Yusuke turned to see that Kuwabara had disposed of his assailant, but Koenma was still trying to out-run the smaller demon chasing after him. Yusuke groaned and started towards Koenma, but Kurama grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Wait, we should make this one talk," Kurama advised when Yusuke turned to him questioningly. "He might be able to lead us to Fumio and Rui."

"Right," Yusuke agreed.

Yusuke ran across the orchard and grabbed the little imp up by the throat, holding him up in the air and squeezing until his flailing limbs weakened.

"Where the hell is Fabio?" Yusuke yelled at him.

"Not quite what I had in mind…" Kurama muttered.

"I'll never tell you anything!" the imp screeched, clawing at Yusuke's hands in an attempt to break his hold.

"Tell me or I'll turn you into lunchmeat!" Yusuke threatened.

"The River of Dreams," the imp choked out. "He sent us here to stop the four of you… But he told us one of you was small and weak. He lied to us!"

Yusuke threw down the imp and turned to Koenma, who was cowering behind Kuwabara.

"Where's the River of Dreams?" he asked.

"In the Valley of Courage," Koenma replied.

"Oh yeah, real funny," Yusuke groaned. "Seriously, where is it?"

"In the Valley of Courage, beside the Mountain of Faith, before the Forest of Truth and after the Spring of Joy!" Koenma insisted.

Yusuke's face dropped.

"Wow, everything in spirit world really is dumb, huh?" Kuwabara asked.

"It is not!" Koenma snapped.

"Well that's one of our two problems solved at least," Kurama said. "Now we knew where Fumio is; but does anyone know where Hiei is?"

The others all looked around themselves before shrugging and shaking their heads.

"He was moving real slow, he fell behind us back on Justice Road," Kuwabara said.

"We have to find him before we go any further," Kurama said. "He may be instrumental in our fight against Fumio."

* * *

"Oh my look! It's Kurama! And he's in his foxy form!"

"That's not Kurama, that's Fumio!"

"Who?"

Botan screamed as Hiei leapt from her oar. She quickly shot down after him as he fell towards the gathering of demons below them, but she halted abruptly when he ripped out his sword and began cutting down bodies before his feet had even reached the ground. He was quickly surrounded, but he seemed to be holding his own well enough, and so Botan turned her attention to the silver-haired fox demon, who was backing away from the scrimmage and dragging a bewildered woman in a pale green silk kimono with him. Botan drew out her trusty metallic baseball bat and arced around to approach the fox from behind, inwardly reciting a small prayer that he was not actually Kurama before smacking him over the head with her weapon.

"Quick, come with me!" she called, grabbing the woman's hand.

The woman did not hesitate, clambering onto the oar and tightly keeping hold of Botan's hand as she started to make her escape.

"My name's Botan," Botan said to her cheerfully.

"Oh thank you so much, Miss Botan," the woman said breathlessly. "My name is Rui."

"Why do I know that name…" Botan muttered, frowning in thought.

Before she could figure out why Rui was familiar to her Botan found herself suddenly airborne as her oar was jerked out from under her. She fell into the river, fortunately landing near the middle, where the water was deep enough that she narrowly missed colliding with the rocky riverbed. She fought back up to the surface in time to see her oar and Rui tangled up in a plant and the fox demon glaring across the water at her. She saw a shadow moving beneath the water's surface and then noticed that the same plant that was holding Rui and her oar was reaching tendrils into the water towards her.

Botan took a deep breath and dropped below the water, swimming over to the opposite bank and stumbling out of the water. One green vine began to reach out after her but it stopped short as the river suddenly turned white. Botan looked across at the other side, seeing Rui with one hand on the water's surface.

"Oh, she's Yukina's friend!" Botan whispered out loud as the memory finally returned to her. "Well, that was lucky!"

The fox demon – who Botan assumed was Fumio, as Hiei had suggested – stepped onto the frozen over river but almost immediately slipped and fell down. Botan laughed at him, leaping onto the ice and gracefully sliding her way across with ease. As she reached the other side she leapt onto the bank beside Rui, greeting her with a smile.

"You're very proficient on the ice, Miss Botan," Rui greeted her.

"I love ice skating!" Botan replied.

Rui grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the ice again. Botan started to ask her why, but as Fumio fell at her feet she realised why. They started to move away from him but he grabbed one of Botan's ankles and pulled sharply, bringing her down onto the ice. Rui managed to slide out of his reach, but he was on Botan's back before she could even lift her head, pinning her down to the ice.

"Hey, your fight's with me, Fumio!"

Fumio and Botan both turned their heads to see Hiei leaping from the riverbank. Botan groaned as Hiei hit the ice and promptly landed flat on his back.

"Shouldn't you be good at moving on ice?" Botan yelled at him. "You're from the ice village!"

"Hiei?" Rui gasped.

"From the ice village?" Fumio said. "Well that makes sense…"

"I hate ice!" Hiei roared, placing his hands onto the ice at either side of him.

"Hiei, no!" Botan squealed.

But Hiei ignored her, using his fire powers to rapidly melt the ice. As the ice turned back into water and the river began to flow again, rushing faster than before as the body of water that had been building up behind the ice came rushing through, Hiei, Botan, Rui and Fumio were swept away downstream. Botan fought to stay above water and to get control of her oar whilst Fumio and Hiei began fighting with each other.

"That's not helping!" Botan snapped at them.

"You punched her in the face!" Hiei snarled at Fumio. "This is for Yukina!"

He punched Fumio hard in the face, sending the fox demon under the water.

"Hiei, get over here!" Botan called out to him.

He ignored her, instead diving under the water and dragging Fumio back up. As they broke the surface Hiei made to punch Fumio again, but the fox demon slapped something into his face, and an instant later Hiei's body went limp and disappeared beneath the water.

"Hiei!" Botan screamed.

She turned and tried to dive under the water after him but Fumio caught her. Using one of his plants, he caught onto the riverbank and pulled himself and Botan from the water, throwing her down on the ground and climbing out behind her. She tried to dive back into the water but another plant burst out of the ground at her feet and quickly tangled up in her limbs, holding her in place.

"Let me go!" she cried.

She looked back over her shoulder, seeing one last glimpse of Rui's head before she too disappeared beneath the water.

"It's alright," Fumio said as Botan turned back to him. "Hiei is of no use to me, and the ice maiden expired her use a long time ago. Now you, on the other hand, could still be useful."

Botan screamed indignantly as he stepped up to her and thrust his hands into the folds of her kimono and began rummaging around. She squawked and squirmed in outrage, only slowing her struggle when he finally stopped and took a step back.

"Ferry girl notebook," he said, holding up her notebook. "Useless."

He flung it over his shoulder into the river and Botan wailed miserably.

"Some sort of whistle," he said, holding up the Mystic Whistle. "What does this do?"

"I'll never tell you!" she snapped back.

He cautiously blew into the whistle, stopping abruptly as a terribly offensive noise stabbed at his ears.

"Definitely useless," he concluded, throwing it into the river. "Stickers?"

He held up a handful of Mejiru Shiiru labels, but Botan turned her head from him and refused to tell him what they were. He shrugged and flung them into the river, along with a few other items, until all he held was the Concentration Ring and the Psychic Spyglass.

"This is made of fake gold and therefore worthless," he said, flinging the ring into the river. "And this eyeglass…"

He held it over one eye and slowly ran his eyes over the length of Botan's body, a smile gradually spreading across his face as he did so. Botan began trying to struggle free of her bonds, wriggling her shoulders desperately, which only made Fumio's smile grow.

"Yes, keep doing that," he said darkly. "It makes for a lovely show."

Botan froze as she realised exactly what he was looking at.

"Give me that back, it's not meant for dirty boys like you!" she said.

"This could be useful," he said, waggling the Psychic Spyglass in the air. "As could you. You're coming with me."

He pushed the stolen spirit world item into his hair and then stepped towards Botan again, leaning over her. He paused there, sniffing tentatively at her neck.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, leaning as far away from him as the plant holding her would allow.

"Why do you smell like cherry-vanilla flavour syrup?" he asked. "Not cherry flavour, not vanilla flavour, but cherry-vanilla flavour syrup?"

"Well, not that it's any of your business Mister Nosy Fox, but it happens to be Hiei's favourite!" she snootily replied.

"You're Hiei's lover?" Fumio asked, his top lip curling in disgust.

"So what if I am?" she said.

"Well if you've been rutting with an outcast like that, you're really not any use to me."

Fumio stepped back and his plant unfurled from around Botan and shrunk back into the ground, releasing her completely.

"I-I'm free to go?" she asked.

"I'm not interested in someone else's leftovers," Fumio replied.

"Hey!" she yelled.

"Nor am I particularly interested in listening to your voice any longer."

Fumio threw a powder at Botan's face and she flinched, sneezed and then felt her entire body become heavy. She collapsed to the ground unconscious and Fumio turned around, looking back upstream at what was left of his gang after Hiei had slaughtered more than half of their number. The captain of the Special Defence Force was still unconscious and tied up in their midst, so all was not lost, he thought. He hurried back over to rejoin his group, approaching a toad demon clutching a telescope.

"Where are the others?" Fumio asked him.

"There are four of them," the toad replied. "And Koenma is with them."

"There are four including Koenma?" Fumio asked. "The human, the mazoku, Kurama and Koenma?"

"No, it seems Hiei is on his way back to join them."

"What? That's impossible! Give me that!"

Fumio took the telescope from the toad and looked into it for himself, seeing Koenma with Kurama and the two idiots who had attacked him in spirit world a few days earlier. They were still by the orchard, and, panning across towards Justice Road, Fumio saw a smaller figure, dressed in black, moving towards them.

Fumio snatched the telescope from his eye and looked down the river. He had heard that Hiei was fast, but that seemed ridiculously, impossibly fast – surely Hiei had not awoken, swum to shore and run all the way back to the orchard already. He looked into the telescope again, but again he saw what appeared to be Hiei hurrying towards Kurama's group. Fumio slowly retrieved the Psychic Spyglass from his hair, lifting his head just far enough to allow his hand space to lay the spirit world lens over the eyepiece of the telescope. He then peered through the telescope again, his eyebrows slowly rising at what he saw.

"Change of plans," he said, lifting his head again and turning to address the rest of his gang. "You are all to remain here, and make sure that soldier doesn't wake up, and that nobody takes him from you. I'm going hunting."

"Hunting, Sir?" the toad asked him as he passed the telescope back to him.

"Yes, hunting," Fumio replied with a smile as he stuffed the Psychic Spyglass into his hair again. "I've finished with my last prey, it's time I captured some fresh meat."

He smiled darkly and, without another word, he ran upstream.

* * *

"Hiei!"

Kurama dropped to his knees at his friend's side.

"I-I'm fine," Hiei insisted.

"You don't look fine," Kurama sighed. "You look exhausted. Where have you been?"

"Justice Road is quite long, and running all the way was…"

"You look like you've run all the way back to living world and back here again! Why are you so wet? Is that just sweat?"

"Um… There was a rain-cloud."

"I didn't see any rain."

"It was localised rain."

"Localised to you specifically?"

"…Yes?"

Kurama smiled and stood up again, offering his hand to Hiei. Hiei smiled awkwardly and put his hand into Kurama's accepting his help to stand up again. He looked out across the remains of the orchard before looking up at Kurama.

"It looks like the trees were killed with frost crack," he concluded.

"We think that is what happened," Kurama replied. "This is, apparently, one of the reasons Fumio needed your friend Rui. He probably thought that if he took fruits from the trees he could grow his own orchard back in demon world and bribe spirit world with the results. With no trees of their own, they would be at his mercy."

"Can you restore the trees?" Hiei asked.

"I'm afraid not, no," Kurama said. "But Koenma believes that he has the seeds to grow back what's been lost. And even if he doesn't, I'm sure Fumio will, and we can take them from him when we defeat him."

When Hiei did not answer him Kurama looked down at him expectantly, but found Hiei was looking down at their hands, which were still joined.

"When this is over, we need to talk," Kurama said in a low voice.

"Do you promise?" Hiei asked quietly, keeping his head down.

"I should be asking you that," Kurama replied. "You're the one more likely to run off and deny your feelings."

"I don't think you will want to talk to me when this is over," Hiei said softly.

"I need to talk to you when this is over. I need to know that you understand where we stand and how we can move forward."

"I see."

Kurama released Hiei's hand.

"Come on, let's keep going," he said.

Together they walked on in silence until they caught up to Yusuke, Kuwabara and Koenma, who were in the midst of an argument.

"I am right, and the two of you prove both of the points I was trying to make!" Koenma insisted.

"You're wrong!" Yusuke argued.

"I don't know, I think he's mostly right," Kuwabara said. "It probably won't be true about a guy like you, but it's true about most guys."

"Kurama'll agree with me," Yusuke said as Kurama and Hiei joined them. "Hey Kurama, is it true that guys who talk about sex all the time never get any?"

"Absolutely it is," Kurama agreed.

"Damn it, Kurama!" Yusuke snapped.

"It's not true about you though, right?" Kuwabara asked Kurama. "You've never had a girl in that body, but you don't talk about it all the time like Urameshi does."

"But I'm not over-compensating for a shameful lack of experience and understanding," Kurama pointed out.

"Hey!" Yusuke protested.

"So you see I was right," Koenma said. "Those who talk about it all the time, never get it, and those who never talk about it, get plenty."

"What the hell would you know anyway?" Yusuke snapped. "You've never slept with a girl!"

"He's a child," Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei all said in unison.

"But he's still a pervert and he still talks about it all the time!" Yusuke countered.

"He talks about it all the time for the same reasons that you do," Kurama said quietly.

"…Shouldn't we be trying to find Fabio?" Yusuke growled.

The others muttered in agreement and they all started to move on again.

"I'm not supposed to be all the way out here," Koenma said as they walked. "My father would be furious if he knew I was this close to the fighting. But I know exactly where the remaining soldiers of the SDF are stationed, and I want to make sure that you reach them. If we all combine our efforts, it should make getting rid of the invasion faster and easier. And we have to remember that they have two hostages."

"Right," Yusuke said. "They caught the stupid one with the moustache and another miserable ice bitch."

"Yes, indeed," Koenma said.

"How far is it from here to the SDF's stronghold?" Kurama asked.

"They're operating from a dugout near the base of the Mountain of Faith," Koenma replied, pointing to the mountains by the horizon. "On foot, it will take us the best part of a day to reach there."

"Another day?" Kuwabara groaned.

"At least the situation isn't getting any worse," Koenma reminded him. "The virus is under control now in demon world, the ferry girls have been able to return to their duties, and the invasion isn't moving any further into spirit world. For now."

"For now?" Yusuke repeated.

"Well, as long as they don't over-power the officers in the dugout then the situation won't get any worse," Koenma replied. "How could it?"

"You shouldn't say things like that," Kuwabara muttered, shaking his head.

"Why not?" Koenma asked.

"Because whenever someone says things can't get any worse, or any weirder, or whatever, then things always do get worse or weirder or whatever," Kuwabara replied.

"I'll try to bear that in mind, Mister Brightside," Koenma grumbled.

* * *

Botan awoke with a groan, pushing herself up and looking about to get her bearings. She was still lying by the banks of the River of Dreams, but Fumio and all his henchmen were gone. She looked up at the sky and saw that it was early afternoon, and she silently hoped that she had only been unconscious for a few hours and not a whole day. She stood up and summoned her oar, flying straight up until she had a decent view of the length of the river. She hovered on point for several minutes as her eyes searched for any traces of any bodies by the riverside – she was hoping to locate Hiei – and, after some time of looking, she eventually noticed one lone figure walking upstream.

She clutched onto her oar and started downstream and downwards towards the ground again, following the flow of water until she was afforded a front view of the person walking towards her.

"Rui!" she called out.

The ice maiden stopped abruptly, looking frightened at first: but, as she spotted Botan, her expression neutralised and she gave a small, meek wave of her hand. Botan shot over to her side, stopping in a hover in front of her.

"What happened to Hiei?" Botan asked her.

"I'm afraid I don't know," Rui replied, shaking her head. "I pulled him from the water, but once he had woken up he ran off and left me behind. He didn't say where he was going. He… He's Yukina's brother. Do you know Yukina?"

"Oh, of course I do!" Botan said brightly. "Yukina is one of my very best friends!"

"Oh that's wonderful news," Rui said, touching a hand to her chest and sighing. "I was so worried. You see, Fumio, the fox demon who was holding me prisoner, he came to the ice village a few weeks ago, and he found out about Yukina. He found out that she was residing in living world, and I feared he might send for her. I tried to do everything he asked of me without complaint so that he wouldn't have a reason to go after her. But if she's safe that's good news."

Botan chewed at her lip awkwardly.

"She is safe, isn't she?" Rui asked nervously.

"Well, that depends what you mean by "safe"…" Botan said slowly.

Rui gasped and fell to her knees. Botan hopped off her oar and knelt down in front of the ice maiden.

"Oh but don't worry!" she said hurriedly. "She's not in any danger, either! Well, at least, I don't think she is. She's not alone at least: she's with a fox, a fool and a pervert."

Rui's breathing began to become ragged, and Botan frowned as she watched her pull a brown paper bag from the sleeve of her kimono and shake it open.

"The best thing to do now is for me to get a communication mirror," Botan said, trying to ignore how bizarre it looked when Rui began breathing into the paper bag. "That way we can call Lord Koenma and Yusuke. They'll be able to help us. So, if you come with me on my oar, I'll take us back to the temple and we can get a new communication mirror, okay?"

Rui nodded, but did not remove the bag from her mouth.

"Okay…" Botan muttered, shuffling forwards and hooking an arm through Rui's.

Botan stood up and helped Rui up at her side. She summoned her oar with her free hand and together they sat down onto it.

"Don't worry Rui!" Botan said, squeezing Rui's arm at her side. "Yukina will be just fine. She's in very good hands!"

* * *

The SDF officers, Koenma, Kuwabara and Yusuke were gladly devouring a meal they had managed to scrape together, but Kurama had barely touched his food. His eyes were on Hiei, who had chosen to sit far away from the campfire with his plate, and had not eaten a single morsel. He was sitting in a hollow recess in the side of the mountain, a small smile on his face, his entire being bathed in the pale blue light from the glow-bugs inside the cave with him. His boots were off and sitting beside him and his feet were dipped into the shallow puddle of water in the centre of the cave. Kurama glanced around the others to make sure that they were all suitably distracted before quietly slipping away from them, leaving the welcome warmth of the campfire and making his way into the almost uncomfortably cold cave. Hiei's head snapped around as he entered the cave, his smile vanishing and his eyes widening, the whites of his eyes almost glowing in the unusual lighting.

"Hi," Kurama said, sitting down on a rock by the cave entrance.

There was still a substantial distance between them, but Kurama did not feel that he could move any closer to Hiei, and not just because it was slightly warmer to sit by the mouth of the cave.

"Hi," Hiei replied. "A-are you alright?"

"Yes," Kurama said, holding up his plate of food. "You should eat up."

"So should you," Hiei said, nodding at Kurama's plate.

Kurama nodded and bit the top off of an unpleasantly chewy mushroom. He used the stalk to push the rest of his food around the plate as he chewed before dropping it down and looking over at Hiei again.

"I know it's frustrating that your friend will be a prisoner for another night, but at least by this time tomorrow it will all be over," he said.

Hiei lowered his eyes to the puddle, watching his feet as he wiggled his toes beneath the water.

"Yes…" he said slowly. "Tomorrow it will all be over…"

"And we can all return to normality, right?" Kurama said, smiling awkwardly.

"Yes, I suppose so…"

Hiei moved his eyes to Kurama, watching him from the edge of his vision.

"We can all just go back to normal," Kurama said, his voice lowered to a whisper.

"What if we can't?" Hiei asked.

"Can't what?" Kurama asked.

"Go back to normal."

"Why would we not be able to?"

"I don't know. Maybe something might happen between now and then that could possibly change everything a little bit perhaps."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, I was just thinking that something could happen."

"It sounded like you were thinking about something quite specific happening – though you seem to be skirting around the subject somewhat."

"Why would I do that?"

"I don't know, why would you?"

"You were the one who said things haven't been normal lately."

"Well they haven't been."

"Why?"

"You."

Hiei nodded and Kurama bit the top off of another rubbery mushroom, only remembering how foul they tasted as he began to chew. He lifted his plate to his mouth, intending to spit out the half-chewed remains of the mushroom cap, but stopped when he noticed Hiei watching him intensely. He forced a smile and begrudgingly swallowed the contents of his mouth, lowering his plate to his lap again.

"I'm not what you expected me to be," Hiei said quietly.

"No you're not," Kurama replied, moving his plate down onto a nearby rock.

"I was talking about me, but I know I'm not what you expected of Hiei either," Hiei said.

"That's… A little too philosophical for this time of night and for you, Hiei."

"It's not philosophical, it's literal."

"Right…"

Kurama stood up and picked his way around the puddle before sitting down at Hiei's side.

"It's very cold in here," he said, turning towards Hiei. "And you just don't seem to be getting any better."

He touched a hand to Hiei's head experimentally, expecting to feel that he was overheating with a fever.

"I know it's cold in here," Hiei said, crossing his eyes to look up at Kurama's hand on his brow. "It's cold in here because of me."

"Yes, usually you generate a lot of heat," Kurama said, pressing the tips of his fingers against the strip of bare skin between the top of Hiei's bandana and his hairline. "But since you fell ill, you always seem to be cold."

"There's a reason for that. Kurama, there's something I have to tell you. Something very important. You'll find out tomorrow anyway, but I want to tell you myself and I want to tell you now because I'm scare–"

"Please don't."

"What?"

"Please don't say it. I don't know that you'll like my answer."

Hiei searched Kurama's eyes desperately, as though trying to read the answer directly from his mind without using his jagan eye.

"You-you already know?" he asked softly.

Kurama nodded.

"Are you sure?" Hiei asked. "Because I thought you knew last night, but you didn't."

"We'll always be friends," Kurama began.

"We will?" Hiei echoed.

"Please Hiei, don't make this any harder than it already is."

"But that's what I'm trying to tell you, I'm–"

"I can't return your feelings."

"Oh… Wait, my feelings or his?"

"We've been friends for a long time and I value our friendship, but I don't think I could ever really see you as anything else now. I didn't think you would ever see me as anything other than a friend either – in fact, the thought of you thinking of me as anything other than a friend didn't even occur to me. I had no reason to even think about thinking about such a thought."

"Maybe you think too much sometimes."

Kurama smiled.

"Maybe I do," he admitted. "And maybe you think too little sometimes."

Kurama did not notice that his hand nearest Hiei was stroking the side of his hair until Hiei lowered his head slightly and his fingertips tripped over the jagged ends of his hair. Kurama slowly retracted his hand and turned his head away, trying to keep his mind focused on the task at hand.

"I'm not gay," he said, turning to look directly at Hiei again as he spoke.

"Oh, neither am I," Hiei replied, lifting his head to meet Kurama's eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with being gay," Kurama added. "But I personally prefer women."

"A lot of my people prefer to be with women," Hiei said. "A lot of them are gay."

"But not you?" Kurama asked.

"No, not me."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"So we're okay then."

"I don't think so. I still have to tell you about who I really am."

"I already know who you really are."

"No you don't."

"No I don't."

Hiei frowned.

"Wait, what?" he asked.

"I did know who you are, but lately you've been like a completely different person," Kurama replied.

"That's because lately I have been a completely different person."

Kurama frowned and Hiei shook his head.

"No, I mean I'm a different person from who you think I am," Hiei corrected himself.

"You're confused," Kurama told him.

"Yes, I am," Hiei agreed. "But so are you."

"Yes, that's true. It's because you've been behaving so differently. I don't even feel that we're communicating the same way we would usually do."

"No we're not. We're talking a lot more than we ever have done before."

"Yes we are."

"It's wonderful."

"Yes, it is."

"Really?"

"What? No."

"Oh."

Hiei hung his head low and Kurama then realised his mistake.

"What I meant was that it's unusual," he said. "And confusing."

"But I like talking to you, Kurama," Hiei said, his head still dipped low.

"I like talking to you too," Kurama replied. "And it's been pleasantly easier to talk to you since you caught the virus, but we both know that this current change in you won't last."

"No, it won't. Which is why I have to talk to you now, tonight, before tomorrow comes and everything goes back to the way it was before."

"Isn't that a good reason not to talk about it now? It will only make things more awkward between us tomorrow."

"But this is my only chance to tell you."

"I can't love you back."

Hiei froze, and, although he could see that Hiei was upset, Kurama continued.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I have to be honest with you, for both of our sakes. You're not my type."

"Is this because of Botan?" Hiei asked.

"No," Kurama replied.

"Yes it is. You've fallen in love with her. I waited too long. I was just so scared, of my feelings and of being rejected or ridiculed, that I said nothing. I should have acted sooner."

"I don't think I understand. How long have you felt this way?"

"It wasn't love at first sight."

"Right. Well, no, it wouldn't have been, not under the circumstances in which we met. You were hurt and confused and only in living world by circumstance, and I was still trying to live as a human back then, trying not to get involved with demon world or spirit world affairs."

"Yes. I never really started to think of you fondly until the Dark Tournament."

"The Dark Tournament? Why the Dark Tournament?"

"Honestly, it was when I saw your full demon form. I'd never thought of you as a fox demon before then, you'd always just seemed human, like Yusuke and Kazuma. But seeing you that way, seeing you as the sort of demon who usually hunted my people... It seemed dangerous to even be around you after that, and yet somehow I couldn't stop thinking about you. I guess grandma was right, I am just like my mother, seeking out danger even though I'm not fit to handle it when I find it."

"Wait, the Dark Tournament? But that was years ago!"

"Yes. Like I said, I've waited too long to act upon my feelings."

"All this time you've...?"

Hiei nodded.

"So long..." Kurama muttered.

Hiei nodded again.

"I thought it was just since the start of this mission?" Kurama asked him.

Hiei shook his head.

"Silly of me not to say something sooner, wasn't it?"

"Silly of me not to notice something sooner."

"I hid it well. I was terrified of you ever finding out."

"But now you're happy for me to know, even though you know that I will reject you?"

"I had to try. I had to know for sure."

Kurama nodded.

"Well, take heart, you're very young, you will surely meet another like me before too long."

"I don't think there is another like you. Not now and not in the future."

"It might feel that way now, but give it time."

"Have you ever loved someone who didn't want you? It's..."

"It's okay, I understand."

"No, you don't."

"Yes I do."

"You don't want me."

"No, I do want you."

Hiei's head snapped up and his eyes met Kurama's even more optimistically than before.

"What I meant to say is that you're very important to me," Kurama corrected himself. "I enjoy your company. I find you easy to talk to because you know what it's like to be a demon living in living world."

"I–" Hiei began.

He stopped abruptly as Kurama leaned over him, reaching an arm over his shoulder to brace himself against the cave wall.

"I see you're very close," Hiei said awkwardly.

"I see that too," Kurama muttered.

"Do you know that you have little sparkles of gold in your eyes?"

"I don't know that. Why do you know that?"

"I don't know. I just see it when I look into your eyes."

"Do you know what I see when I look into your eyes?"

"No, what?"

"I see... I, um..."

Kurama leaned closer to Hiei, his eyes drifting shut, and for the briefest moment their lips touched. When he opened his eyes again, Kurama found Hiei's eyes already open wide and staring at him.

"You-you just kissed me," he said.

"Yes, I thought so too," Kurama said. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice."

"Wh-what?"

"That was supposed to be a joke. I'm just trying to forget how awkward this is."

"It didn't feel awkward to me."

"No?"

"No."

Kurama nodded.

"Do you want to do it again?" he asked.

"Yes," Hiei instantly replied.

Kurama leaned closer and this time Hiei tilted his chin up, bringing his lips up to meet Kurama's.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** One fox is confused as fox, the other is just foxing evil. After his shared awkward moment with Hiei, Kurama is left questioning his own sexuality: but not for long, when he receives a call from Botan that is at first confusing but then quickly becomes very enlightening. Angry that he has been lied to and betrayed, Kurama refuses to go anywhere near the source of his ire. Elsewhere, Botan plans her very own adventure and drags Rui along with her, and elsewhere again Fumio finds a new plaything to amuse himself with. **Chapter 28 – Tenth Night**


	28. Tenth Night

**Chapter 28: Tenth Night**

In an instant, the turmoil of thoughts that had been thundering through Kurama's mind vanished, leaving behind only the vaguest idea that he really ought to be thinking about what he was doing: but logic was lost to longing. As he pushed his lips against Hiei's – which felt surprisingly soft and cool against his – his hands hovered hesitantly by his friend's shoulders. Hiei was pushing into him with just as much force as he was and so when one of Hiei's hands suddenly grabbed his knee, Kurama was not entirely sure if it was to stabilise himself or an act of affection: either way, the additional physical contact was enough to break Kurama's moment of indecision and his hands fell to Hiei's shoulders. As he was still without his cloak, Hiei's shoulders were bare, and the feeling of skin against his palms sent a jolt of desire through Kurama.

Hiei made a small, delicate moan, the quivering of which passed through his lips to Kurama's and Kurama answered him with a growl, gripping his fingers into Hiei's shoulders. Hiei flinched slightly at the pressure, and although Kurama knew that he was not squeezing hard enough to hurt a demon as powerful as Hiei, he loosened his grip regardless, dragging his fingers down Hiei's back. Hiei leaned back far enough for their lips to part slightly and Kurama opened his eyes – which he only then realised had been closed again – looking directly into Hiei's eyes in front of his own.

"This is wrong," he whispered.

"Do you care?" Kurama asked.

Hiei's eyes flitted down to Kurama's lips and Kurama cocked a smirk as he distinctly saw Hiei's pupils dilate with desire.

"I should," he eventually answered.

"I don't," Kurama growled, leaning forwards and catching Hiei's bottom lip between both of his.

Hiei squealed a muffled, indignant noise of complaint, but his hands reached forwards and grabbed into Kurama's shirt. When he heard a button pop open and he felt a draft of cool air reach the small area of exposed skin on his abdomen Kurama balled his fists around the back of Hiei's shirt, pulling it out from his pants. Hiei tried to speak but Kurama denied him the opportunity, sealing his lips over Hiei's before any coherent sound could leave his mouth.

Hiei and Kurama clawed at each other, their lips moving together a little awkwardly and their clothing becoming untidier and looser about their bodies with every passing second. When one of Kurama's hands finally managed to find its way under Hiei's shirt and under-vest, his fingers touching the bared skin over the small of Hiei's back, Hiei whimpered and his hands tightened into fists, his knuckles pushing into Kurama's shoulders as he tried to push him away. Kurama kept his hand pressed to Hiei's bare back and moved his other hand up to the back of Hiei's neck, holding his head in place as he gently slid his tongue into Hiei's mouth.

Kurama smiled through their kiss when he felt Hiei's fists open and his body go still in sweet surrender to his own desire.

Kurama slid his hand up Hiei's back, his fingers tracing the slight indent of his spine, until his fingertips suddenly hit cloth.

By the time Kurama had recovered from his initial shock at finding bandaging around Hiei's chest, Hiei was on the other side of the cave, frantically tucking his vest and shirt back into his pants.

"When did you injure yourself?" Kurama asked him.

"It's not a wound," Hiei muttered.

"You're wrapped in three layers of bandaging," Kurama pointed out.

"It's not a wound, though it is bloody," Hiei said quietly. "It's part of what I have to talk to you about."

Hiei lifted his head, looking across the cave at Kurama. In that moment, as he looked at Hiei through the hazy blue glow of glow bugs illuminating the cave, Kurama realised that his lips were still tingling from their kiss, he could still feel the silky softness of the skin of Hiei's back on his fingertips and he could still taste him.

"First of all, I never meant for it to go this far," Hiei said, his voice light and gentle. "I wanted to stop it sooner, but I... I think I was just enjoying being with you at first, and then when we found out about the fate of the ice maidens, I was–"

"Stay away from me."

"Wh-what?"

"Stay away from me."

Kurama turned around and marched towards the cave mouth. Hiei called out his name and Kurama heard him stumble awkwardly through the puddle, splashing about ungraciously.

"Please, let me explain!" he begged.

"I said stay away from me!" Kurama roared over his shoulder.

Hiei halted abruptly, and when he saw that Hiei looked more upset than angry, Kurama turned away and stomped on, passing the others around the camp-fire and continuing out of sight. Hiei started to follow him but stopped when Yusuke held up a hand.

"He's pretty pissed off, best do as he says," he said. "Kurama's the most dangerous of us all when he loses his cool, and he's definitely not cool right now."

Hiei spun around and fled back into the cave.

"What was that all about?" Koenma asked, glancing back and forth between Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"I dunno," Yusuke said with a shrug. "It's too damn confusing for me to follow any more."

* * *

The next morning, Kurama returned to the campsite so early that the others were still asleep when he got there, including the two SDF officers not on watch at that time. Hiei was nowhere to be seen, but that was a relief to Kurama, who was still not really ready to confront his friend after their confused and confusing interchange the night before.

Kurama poked at the embers of the camp-fire in the hope of revitalising the flames so that they could cook a decent breakfast, but before he could complete his task he was distracted by the sound of Koenma's communication mirror ringing. Koenma, who in his sleep had reverted back to his toddler form, remained fast asleep in the arms of the female SDF officer despite the noise, and so Kurama picked up the device, flipping it open to see Botan looking back out at him, along with what looked like an especially dour ice maiden.

"Kurama?" Botan said, tilting her head in confusion. "Or is that you Lord Koenma, trying to make an adult disguise for yourself that is as pretty as Kurama?"

Kurama smiled.

"You were right the first time, Botan," he told her. "This is Kurama. Koenma is still asleep. Is everything alright? Who's that with you?"

"Oh this is Rui," Botan replied, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the ice maiden.

"You found Rui?" Kurama echoed in disbelief. "Goodness Botan, that was good work!"

"Oh I see! Now you think I'm a good worker!" Botan moaned. "But I wasn't good enough to be invited on your mission in the first place and not even good enough to be told about what was really going on in spirit world – even though I am a resident of spirit world and you boys aren't!"

"But apparently you are clued up on the situation now."

"Yes, thanks to Hiei."

"Hiei?"

"Yes. He came to living world and we spent a wonderful night together."

Kurama looked up abruptly, scanning over the sleeping bodies around the campfire again, and again he noticed that Hiei was absent.

"Hiei went back to living world and spent the night with you?" he asked, lowering his eyes to the communicator again.

"Yes, didn't you know?" Botan asked.

"I do now…" Kurama replied.

"It was wonderful, Kurama!" Botan gushed. "We made love and then he let me take him back to spirit world – we went on an adventure together!"

"…What…?"

"Which is actually why I'm calling you. I've lost him. Hiei, I mean. We were parted when we encountered a band of demons by the River of Dreams, Hiei seemed very angry with a fox demon there named Fumio, he said something about Yukina, but I don't really understand what it was, but anyway I've lost Hiei and I wondered if he had come looking for you? Also I've found Rui, as you can see, and I'm assuming that Yukina is with you? You know I think it's incredibly irresponsible that you've taken her all this way with you without even–"

"You spent the night with Hiei?"

"Yes, but that was two nigh–"

"And the two of you made love?"

"Yes, we did, and it was marvellous! But now we… Wait, Kurama, are you alright? You look upset. Are you upset? Please don't be. If anything, you should be glad. I've been helping Hiei stay calm, since he's furious at you, Yusuke and Kuwabara right now about–"

Botan's face vanished in a puff of smoke as the communicator cracked and sparked out of usefulness under the pressure of Kurama's grip. He lifted his eyes from the communication mirror – which he was, unwittingly, crushing further and further – glancing briefly around the campsite at the others, who were all starting to awaken, before moving his eyes to the cave he and Hiei had shared their little encounter in the night before.

"Is that my communication mirror?" Koenma asked, sitting up and pointing at the tangled mess of wires and shattered shards of plastic in Kurama's hand.

Kurama threw the remains of the communicator at the prince and started towards the cave, only to stop abruptly as Hiei exited it, stepping out into the daylight and yawning behind one hand, arching his back as he stretched out his muscles. He blinked blearily and combed his fingers through his hair, pulling more of it down over his forehead before finally noticing that Kurama was watching him. He seemed unaffected by the glare Kurama was giving him, which only infuriated the fox demon further.

"Anything you want to say to me?" Kurama growled at him.

Hiei looked surprised and slowly shook his head.

"Are you sure you don't have anything you want to say to me?" Kurama pressed.

Hiei shook his head again and Kurama started towards him again. Yusuke stood up, inadvertently putting himself in Kurama's path.

"Hey, is everything okay?" he asked.

Yusuke yelped in shock and dismay as Kurama roughly shoved him aside and continued past him. Kuwabara caught Yusuke before he fell, steadying him on his feet, and the two turned to watch as Kurama marched straight up to Hiei, stopping uncomfortably close to him and leaning over him.

"Is this a game to you?" he asked.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Hiei nervously replied.

"Don't lie to me any more than you already have," Kurama warned him. "What you're doing right now, is it your idea of fun?"

Hiei faltered and tried to step back but found himself pinned against the exterior wall of the cave.

"I tried to tell you," he said quietly. "But you didn't give me the chance."

"Why?" Kurama asked.

"What's going on over there?" Yusuke called over to them. "Isn't it a bit early in the morning to be this pissed off?"

"Why?" Kurama pressed, ignoring Yusuke.

"I wanted to help," Hiei meekly replied. "And I wanted to see if I could. It was silly, I know, but if I hadn't hidden the truth from you, you never would have let me go this far with you!"

"You're damn right I wouldn't have," Kurama said.

"I didn't mean to hurt anyone," Hiei continued. "And I did try to tell you last night, but you didn't let me! This was why I was trying to tell you then, to avoid you getting this angry later! Please don't be angry with me Kurama! And, well, you were the one who kissed me last night."

"What?" Yusuke and Kuwabara said in unison.

"Maybe you don't have feelings or make any sort of emotional connection to physical intimacy, but normal individuals do," Kurama said to Hiei, again ignoring the others. "And I am no different: anyone who thinks they can try to seduce me one minute and then run off and have sex with a woman they knew I liked the next would be invoking my wrath, but for you, someone I thought was a trusted friend, to do it is unthinkable and unforgiveable."

"Wait, what?" Hiei echoed. "What are you talking about?"

"Botan called," Kurama replied.

"Botan?"

"Yes, Botan – don't now try to tell me you can't even remember her name."

"I know who Botan is, of course I do!"

"Yes, you know her a little too well, don't you?"

"I don't understand! What are you talking about?"

"Are you still trying to play with me or are you so emotionally retarded that you don't consider what you did with Botan to be a big deal?"

"I haven't done anything with Botan!"

"Don't lie to me, she told me everything!"

"I don't know… Well… Is this about how she behaved when we stayed at Genkai's temple partway through the mission? When she offered to let me watch her shave her legs, and then she licked my ear and touched me under the table with her foot?"

"You were fooling around with her then too?"

"What do you mean "then too"?"

Kurama moved a hand into his hair, his fingers feeling through the lengths briefly before finding what he sought. He pulled out a medium-sized round seed and dropped it on the ground between Hiei's feet.

"Kurama?" Hiei said, keeping his eyes on the fox demon. "I-I don't understand what you mean about Botan. Is this about the book I took from her?"

"I don't trust you any more," Kurama quietly replied.

"No, please, I don't understand–"

Hiei stopped short as something tightened around his ankles.

"And you're too weak to be of any help in our upcoming battle," Kurama continued. "And you're so slow that all you're really doing now is hindering our progress."

"What are you doing?" Hiei asked, looking down at the plant wrapping itself around the lower halves of his legs.

"I was going to ask you to wait here while we finish this," Kurama replied. "But I don't think I can even trust you to do that. This is to make sure you do stay here until we finish this mission. And, once we have, I'll come back for you, and we can finish it."

"F-finish what?"

"You wanted to fight me, and now, through your selfish, manipulative behaviour, I want to fight you too."

"Kurama!"

Kurama turned and marched off, leaving Hiei swaying about awkwardly behind him as he tried to stay upright. The plant growing from the ground between his feet had completely enveloped his legs from the knees down, and as soon as he had stabilised himself, Hiei doubled over and gripped his hands into the long, leathery leaves, trying to pry them open and weaken them with little flashes of energy.

"You're wasting your time, that's a demon pereskia, it can endure all extremes of temperature," Kurama said without turning around. "I used to keep it for the day I caught an ice maiden, but luckily it's just as effective against the heat of fire as it is against the chill of ice."

"What are you doing?" Yusuke asked, hurrying after Kurama. "You can't just leave him here like that!"

"You promised me you would let me help rescue Miss Rui!" Hiei shouted.

Kurama stopped and looked back over his shoulder at Hiei.

"I know he's been acting seriously weird lately, but I think we should let him come with us," Yusuke whispered to Kurama. "He got this far with us, it seems stupid not to take him the rest of the way."

"Hiei has done something utterly abhorrent," Kurama replied, raising his voice to a sufficient level that Hiei would be able to clearly hear his words. "And now he will have to pay for that. He will wait here and think about what he has done while we finish the mission without him, and afterwards I am going to do to him physically what he has done to me mentally and emotionally."

Yusuke opened his mouth to try to reason with Kurama again, but Kurama turned abruptly and took off again. Yusuke glanced back and forth between Kurama's retreating form and Hiei before looking over at Kuwabara and shrugging. He then ran off after Kurama, and, after only a brief pause, Kuwabara followed him.

"You three go on ahead," Koenma said to the SDF officers around him. "I need a moment to change into a more suitable body."

The soldiers nodded and, after one of them had stamped out the glowing remains of the camp-fire, they moved on. After a few wriggles, grunts and stretches Koenma had changed into his adult form. He paused where he stood, watching the others walk away, only moving again once he was confident that they were out of earshot.

"It's probably for the best that you wait here for us," he said, turning around to face Hiei.

"Huh, you don't know what you're talking about!" Hiei moodily replied. "You may look different like that, but on the inside you are still a child!"

Koenma's eyebrows shot up.

"Well that's a little hypocritical, coming from you," he said flatly. "I was going to offer you help – mainly in the form of psychological counselling, which you will undoubtedly need after what you've been through lately – but if you're going to insist on remaining in-character, you can forget it."

Koenma turned his back on Hiei.

"And by the way, it's pronounced "hn"," he added, before sprinting off after the others.

* * *

"I've been helping Hiei stay calm, since he's furious at you, Yusuke and Kuwabara right now about the fact the you're all too stupid to realise that Yukina is – hello? Kurama? Are you still there?"

Botan shook her communication mirror before giving it an experimental slap.

"Oh dear, we've been cut off!" she concluded, snapping the mirror shut.

"What shall we do now?" Rui asked. "I'm so worried about Yukina. It's all my fault that she did what she did!"

Botan pouted and quirked an eyebrow.

"Oh my, Rui!" she said. "You ice maidens really are a tragically tortured race, aren't you? Always wallowing in misery and blaming yourselves for everything that goes wrong. You should try smiling some more and thinking happy thoughts."

"It's difficult to think positively under such bleak circumstances as these," Rui solemnly replied.

"You see, there you go again!" Botan snapped. "And I can give you a fantastic reason to be cheerful: if no-one will help us, we will just have to go on our very own little adventure!"

"Adventure? I don't know about that."

Rui lowered her head, clasping her hands by her chest as though she was saying a prayer.

"I don't have the heart for such endeavours, I lack the energy and enthusiasm a lady like you has, Miss Botan," she said.

"Nonsense!" Botan replied.

Rui lifted her head again and took a breath to answer Botan, but her face twisted before the words left her mouth, her eyes flicking over Botan curiously.

"Did you just change your clothes?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, yes I did," Botan replied, nodding her head sagely. "I was wearing my "team manager" clothes, because I thought we could join the boys on their adventure, but now that we're having an adventure of our own, I've had to change into my "team leader" clothes."

"What's the difference?" Rui asked.

"Well in the first instance, I would have been the team manager, managing the activities of the other members of the team," Botan explained. "But in this instance, I am leading the activities and participating in them directly myself as needed."

"I-I meant what's the difference between the two outfits? And why was the change necessary?"

"My last outfit was formal and managerial, and this one is powerful and leading."

"Leading..."

"Yes. With this outfit on, I am like Miss Leading!"

"Misleading, yes, I understand now."

"You do?"

Rui nodded.

"Oh good!" Botan said.

"Now I understand completely why Yukina has done what she has," Rui said quietly. "With a bold, persuasive friend like you acting as though clothes can alter your personality and abilities, it was little wonder that Yukina thought she could do the same."

"That's right, now let's go!" Botan said, summoning her oar with a smile.

"Did you even hear what I said?" Rui asked.

"Of course I did! You said you understand that bold clothing can persuade others of your abilities!"

Rui sighed.

"Let's go," she said, sitting onto Botan's oar.

* * *

"Finally!" Yusuke said, rolling his eyes as he stopped alongside Kurama.

Kurama held up a hand to stop and silence him, pointing a finger forwards once he had caught Yusuke's attention. Ahead of them, a collection of demons were standing in a line facing them, most of them aiming long-range weapons towards where Kurama and Yusuke were standing.

"Let's get them!" Yusuke said, charging up his finger.

"They have the captain of the SDF with them!" Kurama hissed, grabbing Yusuke's arm and holding him back as he tried to advance.

"I know," Yusuke said, shrugging disinterestedly. "But he owes me one, so let's go."

"Yusuke!" Koenma snapped, grabbing the back of Yusuke's shirt to hold him back. "Don't even think about it!"

"Koenma Sir, you should stay back," one of the SDF officers advised him.

"Right," he agreed

He moved to stand behind the one remaining female officer, whose face fell as he slid his hands around her waist.

"I'm not answerable to you, and I could kill you with one easy flick of my wrist," she warned him.

"I love powerful women," he replied, grinning at her as she glared back over her shoulder at him.

"Don't come any closer, or your soldier gets it!" one of the demons warned.

"Are you sure you need nine Super Dorky Freaks, Koenma?" Yusuke asked, pointing his finger at the bandits. "I could take them all out with one blast..."

"No, Urameshi!" Kuwabara said, pushing down Yusuke's arm. "We do this right. This is a sacred place, we got this far obeying the rules here, only a total asshole would change that now."

"Your awkward friend is right," one of the demons standing next to the slumped and unconscious SDF captain said. "We're in control here, and that's not about to change. If you try anything reckless, we kill the soldier, understa–"

A collective gasp filled the air as everyone noticed the bloody end of a sword sticking out of the demon's mouth. As the blade sunk back into his mouth, he fell lifelessly to the ground and his remaining team-mates all turned their weapons towards Captain Ootake: though none of them dealt him the fatal blow that removed his head.

"What the–?" Yusuke began, stopping as the decapitated head hit the ground and both the head and body changed into that of a chameleon demon.

"It was a trap," Kurama said quietly.

"I guess he saw through it with his jagan eye," Kuwabara added, as Hiei proceeded to cut down two more of the bandits.

"He looks really good!" Yusuke said, turning to the others."Oh, Kurama, I don't mean it like that, you know," he hurriedly added as he noticed the angered look on Kurama's face. "I meant he just appeared out of nowhere, and he's attacking fast and he even looks stronger. I guess maybe he finally got over the virus, right?"

Kurama, who had not taken his eyes off of Hiei since his appearance, did not respond, though Kuwabara muttered in agreement with Yusuke. Although he said nothing however, Kurama could not help but agree with Yusuke: Hiei did look remarkably well. His body looked almost back to full strength, and he was fighting off his enemies so fast, it was difficult to see exactly what he was doing. Two demons caught one of his arms each and a third charged at him, but Hiei head-butted the charging demon and then jumped up from the ground, kicking his feet out at either side of him to kick the two demons holding him off. He landed gracefully on his feet and, in a flash of light, slashed his way through the remaining demons. He looked about the mess he had created before spitting, shaking the excess blood from his sword and then storing it. Yusuke and Kuwabara had already started running towards him, and Kurama followed at a slower pace, his eyes never leaving Hiei.

"Alright, Hiei!" Yusuke said, holding up one hand."Back on form! Put it there!"

Hiei punched Yusuke square in the mouth, sending him staggering back a few steps.

"What the hell was that for?" Yusuke yelped as he touched a hand to his lips and drew it back to reveal blood mixed in with saliva.

"What do you think it was for?" Hiei responded in a flat voice. "It was for being a blind fool and as a warning: if you ever molest or lewdly admire any part of Yukina or expose yourself to her ever again, I will kill you, do you understand that?"

"…No?" Yusuke faintly replied. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Hn, idiot!" Hiei scoffed before starting towards Kurama, who was still approaching them.

Kuwabara leapt into Hiei's path, holding his arms out at his sides.

"Hey, fighting us isn't gonna solve anything, shorty!" Kuwabara warned.

Hiei stopped and glared up at Kuwabara in a way Kuwabara had not seen him do for so long that he had almost forgotten how intimidating it could be to be stared up at by someone eighteen inches shorter than him.

"When you are around Yukina, I expect you to keep your dick in your pants, understand?" Hiei growled.

"But I already told you it isn't like that between me and Yukina!" Kuwabara wailed.

"If you ever emit any form of bodily waste in the presence of Yukina ever again, I will murder you," Hiei snarled. "I don't care how badly you need to take a piss, how flatulent you feel or how hungover you are, you better damn well hold it in, understand?"

"…No?" Kuwabara squeaked.

"Hiei," Kurama said, stepping around Kuwabara to confront Hiei directly. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Hiei replied."Where is she?"

Kurama narrowed his eyes angrily.

"The last I heard, she spent the night with you," he replied.

"That's funny, because I've been watching you through my jagan eye, and it looked like she spent the night with you!"

"She isn't with me now, so obviously she didn't spend the night with me!"

"And she isn't with me, so clearly she didn't spend the night with me!"

"That proves nothing in your case, I've never known you spend the following morning with a woman you passed the night with."

"Don't lecture me, fox! I saw what you did to her! I saw everything! And I would have been here much sooner if the stupid River of Dreams hadn't carried me back to the wrong end of spirit world! I had to carry that bumbling blue ogre on my back all the way here in order to get past those stupid gates!"

"So you admit that you crossed spirit world again last night?"

"I never denied it in the first place!"

"And you slept with Botan?"

"What? Yes I did, but I don't see what that has to do with any of this!"

Kurama closed the gap between himself and Hiei, leaning over the fire demon.

"Did she help you escape?" he asked.

"What?" Hiei echoed.

"Did she free you?" Kurama pressed. "I left you tied up in the demon pereskia, it's resistant to extremes of temperature and grows two new leaves for every one cut from it: how did you manage to escape?"

"Tied up?" Hiei repeated. "Tied up? Tied up!"

"Yes Hiei, tied up far too tightly to escape without third party assistance."

"Is that the way you like it?"

"Yes, it is."

"You sick bastard! I always knew you'd be domineering with a lover, but I didn't think you'd sink so low as to resort to cheap bondage tricks to get your own way!"

"You like to be tied up? That turns you on?"

"No, but apparently it works for you!"

Hiei and Kurama both fell silent, breathing heavily, glaring into each other's eyes angrily, their bodies less than an inch apart.

"Being this close to you last night was actually an enjoyable and enticing experience for me," Kurama said quietly. "But in the harsh light of day, with your filthy lies exposed, I'm nothing but disgusted by you!"

"Oh good," Hiei replied. "Because I thought you thought you kissed me last night!"

"I wouldn't kiss you, you repulse me!" Kurama spat back, ignoring the way Yusuke and Kuwabara were making awkward noises and pretending to look away.

"Well then you must know what needs to be done next," Hiei said.

"We need to find Fumio and remove him from this realm," Kurama replied.

"That can wait. I've told you often enough and so I know you understand what needs to be done: if you really do want her, you have to prove to me that you're worthy. If you can beat me in a fight, I'll concede to give my consent. If you lose, I get to erase your entire memory of this mission."

"You still think you can beat me in a fight, you arrogant son of a bitch?"

"I know I can. And don't call my mother a bitch – didn't you know that ice maidens are identical to their mothers?"

"…What does that have to do with anything?"

"Stop stalling, fox!"

Hiei shoved Kurama back a step and Kurama pushed him back. Hiei snarled and then speared Kurama to the ground, the two rolling over each other.

"Wow, that's usually our thing, scrapping at an inappropriate time," Kuwabara said.

"Yeah…" Yusuke said. "Do you think it's serious or a lover's tiff?"

"I dunno…" Kuwabara replied. "It's kinda hard to tell."

"Do you think we should do something or just let them slug it out?" Yusuke asked.

"If it's a lover's tiff, we shouldn't interfere."

"Pfft, like you're the expert just because you got three girls to sleep with you."

"Well you're hardly an expert, virgin!"

"Oh yeah?"

Yusuke turned to Kuwabara and the two exchanged angered glares before jumping at each other and falling to the ground in a tussle as energetic – though not as violent – as the one ensuing between Hiei and Kurama.

"Boys, boys, boys!" an admonishing voice shouted down at them.

All four ignored the intrusion and continued fighting. Yusuke and Kuwabara stopped first as an oar was wedged between them and pried them apart. They reluctantly separated and Koenma pulled Yusuke to his feet as Rui helped Kuwabara up, smiling shyly at him as he gave her a worried look. Botan turned her attention to Hiei and Kurama, trying first to force her oar between them before resorting to smacking them both with it.

"Stop it!" she cried. "This isn't helping anyone!"

Yusuke and Kuwabara moved over and between the three of them they managed to separate the fox demon and the fire demon, bringing them both to their feet and holding them a good ten feet away from each other to avoid them restarting their brawl. Both had blood smeared over their noses and mouths, both were breathing heavily and both had tears in their clothing.

"Now wasn't that just silly?" Botan asked, glancing back and forth between them both.

"The fox started it!" Hiei snapped, trying to shrug off Yusuke's hold.

"You started it with your inconsistent and despicable behaviour," Kurama shot back, wriggling slightly in Kuwabara's hold.

"Boys, please!" Botan shouted. "Captain Ootake is still being held prisoner! And… Where's Yukina?"

"So end this for us, Botan," Kurama said to her. "Did you, or did you not, spend the night with Hiei?"

"I did, yes," Botan replied.

Kurama glared at Hiei, who simply shrugged in reply.

"You don't even care," Kurama said bitterly.

"Are you still angry that I spent the night with Hiei?" Botan asked him.

"I'm not angry with you, I'm angry with Hiei," he replied.

"But you shouldn't be!" she said. "We both wanted to be together!"

"That doesn't change anything," Kurama said.

"Wait!" Koenma said, jumping into the middle of the group. "I think I can fix this all very quickly. Botan, you and Hiei signed a SCD34124, a form authorising a ferry girl to have a relationship with a demon. That contract was just for the two of you: if you want to have a three-way with Kurama, I need signatures from all three of you on a SCD196156."

"You have a form in spirit world for threesomes?" Yusuke asked.

"Hey you guys, I've had a thought," Kuwabara began.

"And whilst that is a first, nobody cares to hear it," Hiei spat.

"Shut-up, Hiei!" Kuwabara snapped. "So my thought was this: Kurama, if you cared about Botan, you would be mad at her for going with Hiei, but you're not, you're just mad at Hiei."

"Hiei was supposed to be my friend," Kurama replied. "I trusted him and he betrayed me."

"But Botan sort of messed you about too," Kuwabara pointed out. "I think maybe you care more about losing Hiei than losing Botan."

Kurama shook his head, but his face slowly changed.

"That's just…" he began. "I never… How absurd. When I was pursuing Botan Hiei got jealous because he wanted me, and now that Hiei is pursuing Botan, I'm jealous because I want Hiei…"

Kurama smiled humourlessly.

"I forfeit this fight, Hiei," he said. "Go ahead and wipe my memories of this mission. You would be doing us both a favour."

"Wait!" Botan said, stepping between them and holding a hand up in front of each of them. "Are you both forgetting something here?"

"No," Hiei said. "Though I feel a little queasy knowing that he thought it was me he was kissing last night. I wasn't sure if he knew or not then."

"What?" Kurama echoed.

"And I think he's a stupid bastard if he can't tell the difference," Hiei continued. "I think they're all stupid bastards."

"I could tell the difference, Hiei," Botan said, winking at him.

"Really?" Hiei asked, as Botan nodded cheerfully. "Then why did you molest her with your foot at the breakfast table?"

"Wait, what?" Yusuke echoed.

"Let's try to keep this in perspective," Botan said. "Captain Ootake is still in danger, and goodness knows where Yukina is."

"She's still where we left her," Koenma said quietly.

* * *

Fumio stopped, his ears twitching and a rush of excitement passing through him. He could hear the short, shallow breathing of a demon on the point of blind panic: it was the same, pathetic little noises an ice maiden who had just been cornered by a fox demon made. He moved onwards, smiling to himself as he did so. There was a common-held belief that the only emotion an ice maiden ever clearly expressed was fear, and that it looked all the more intense and dramatic on their ordinarily lifeless faces, and Fumio had already proved to himself once that it was true.

He rounded a corner and finally sighted the source of the sound: a short figure dressed in baggy black pants, a black shirt and with bandaged arms. Fumio edged closer before silently crouching down and touching a hand to the ground, feeding his demon energy into the roots of the demon pereskia. He was rewarded with a startled little gasp as the leaves began to wind their way further up the legs of the plant's victim, soon reaching above the hips and snapping out to grab the wrists, holding them out slightly from the body. The leaves reached all the way up to the victim's throat, one long, thin leaf wrapping around the pale, slender neck and pulling just tight enough to induce a look of fear without being dangerously fatal.

"Remember me?" Fumio asked as he stood up again.

He moved himself around to stand directly in front of the demon pereskia's victim, smiling as red eyes shrank in panic at the sight of him.

"You've caused me a lot of trouble lately, little one," Fumio continued. "But I'm a fair man, so I'm going to allow you the opportunity to redeem yourself: I will remove this plant from you shortly, and you will have two choices. Pick one and I will be lenient. Pick the other and I won't hold back. Do you understand?"

"N-no."

"Then let me tell you what your choices will be: you can willingly come with to King Enma's palace, and use your virtuous powers to open the doors to his throne room so that I can take what I need from his private collection, and then afterwards you will return to demon world with me, remove your clothes and let me have you."

"I-I can't do that!"

"Then you choose the other option: I drag you to King Enma's palace by your badly dyed hair, I force you to use your purity to open the doors to his throne room so that I can take what I need from his private collection, and then afterwards I drag you back to demon world with me, tear off your clothes, have you, and then, if you're very lucky, I'll kill you."

"Y-you don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't I?"

Fumio retrieved the Psychic Spyglass from his hair, holding it in a way that allowed them both to clearly see what it was.

"Are you familiar with this device?" he asked.

"N-no."

"It's a spirit world device. I'm not sure what the correct name for it is, but it certainly affords me a very interesting view of you."

Fumio moved the glass over one eye.

"I see slender, shapely legs," he said as he dragged his eyes up the demon before him. "I see curved hips and waist, I see thin, weak arms and shoulders, and I see a glaring collection of talismans over your forehead and your chest – written in a language I don't recognise, but clearly they're quite powerful, because with them in place, you've managed to block out all psychic connections to your mind and all detections of your abilities, power and demon energy signal."

Fumio lowered the Psychic Spyglass and closed his fist around it.

"But then again, you'd need to use such powerful talismans, wouldn't you?" he asked. "They were a very necessary part of your disguise in order to fool those idiots you travelled with into thinking that you were your brother Hiei, isn't that right, Yukina?"

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Koenma, Botan and Hiei explain Yukina's ruse to Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama, who all have difficulty accepting the reality of it, though each for different reasons. Meanwhile, when she realises she can't out-run, out-wit or out-battle Fumio, Yukina realises she has only one option left: she has to out-fox him (double entendre fully intended). **Chapter 29 – Twelfth Night**

* * *

 **A/N:** "Twelfth Night" is a play by William Shakespeare, and was the inspiration for this fic. For anyone who doesn't know, it is about a girl who, when she believes her twin brother to be dead, disguises herself as a man and lives the life her brother ought to have. It is a tale about confusion of gender, romance and identity, and in the case of this fic, Hiei was Sebastian, Botan was Olivia, Kurama was Orsino and Yukina was, of course, Viola/Cesario. And, to a lesser extent, Yusuke was Malvolio and Kuwabara was Feste – but really only in the sense that Yusuke was exposed as a boasting fraud and Kuwabara was a music-loving idiot hiding his achievements behind modesty.

This fic is laden with quotes from the original play, place names from the original play and of course, all chapters (except one) have been titled using the same initials as the title of the play.

"Space Core Directive 196156: Any officer caught sniffing the saddle of the exercise bicycle in the women's gym will be discharged without trial."


	29. Twelfth Night

**Chapter 29: Twelfth Night**

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Maybe your little act fooled that part-human idiot Kurama, but don't assume that a fox demon still at full-strength like I am would be so easily deceived."

"You-you don't… You're not stronger or more intelligent than Kurama!"

"I think I am. Though it doesn't really take much intelligence to see what you really are."

Fumio stepped forwards and grabbed at the crotch of the demon pereskia's victim, his fingers closing around an excess of loose material.

"It's the little things that give you away, Yukina."

"I'm not Yukina!"

"You're trying my patience."

"But I'm Hiei!"

Fumio rolled his eyes before retrieving the sword from its sheath at the hip of the plant's victim. He then stepped forwards again and laid the flat of the blade by the top of the bandaging before slowly sliding the entire length of the blade down between skin and bandages and then sharply tugging upwards, cutting through the bandages effortlessly. His actions were met with a fearful yelp, despite him having succeeded in cutting off the bandages without cutting skin. The bandages slowly fell away, exposing a pale, thin arm.

"That proves nothing!"

"I thought you might say that."

Fumio repeated the process to uncover the other arm before replacing the sword to its sheath.

"Now explain it," he said quietly. "Hiei definitely has the mark of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame on one of his arms, but you have it on neither."

"It's… I just…"

"We can play this game all day, but we're only delaying the inevitable. I can remove that bandana from your head and prove that you have no jagan eye, I can remove that bandaging around your chest and prove that you are both an ice demon and a woman, and I can even strip you naked and prove that you don't have Hiei's body in more ways than one. Is that what it will take? Are you so stubborn that we'll have to play this game for that long before you admit the truth? Or will you just admit it right now, and make both of our lives simpler?"

Fumio arched his eyebrows expectantly.

"If I go with you, and do what you ask of me, will you and your gang leave spirit world? Will you let Miss Rui go and promise never to attack spirit world or another ice maiden ever again?"

"Do you admit that you're Yukina?"

"I don't really see how I can deny it any longer. Lady Tsubara already told me she had told you to use me in your plans, but due to your impatience and refusal to travel to living world, she gave you Miss Rui instead. If you promise you'll leave this place and you'll never bother spirit world, living world or any of my people ever again, then I will help you get to where you need to go."

"How very generous of you."

"Will you let me down now?"

"I have a question before I do."

"Alright."

"If your friends all believed that you are Hiei, and their ally, why did Kurama restrain you here in a demon pereskia?"

"He didn't want me to join them in their fight to free spirit world. He didn't think I could keep up with him."

"Yet he took you all this way?"

"I wasn't good enough for him."

"You mean you weren't strong enough to fight with him?"

"That too."

Fumio grinned darkly.

"Well, well," he said in a low growl. "The old hag in the ice village told me you were a rebel Yukina, but I never expected this: an ice maiden who actually desires a fox demon. How delightfully dirty and twisted."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Yukina growled back. "Stop talking about Kurama like you know him! You don't know him at all! He's nothing like you! You'll never be half the man he is!"

"Careful there Yukina," Fumio replied. "You're getting dangerously close to sounding as though you care about that human excuse for a fox demon, and caring isn't something your people do."

"You don't know anything about my people!" Yukina argued. "And you don't know anything about Kurama either!"

"I suppose I can perhaps understand the attraction. He's in a human body, so you probably didn't even realise what he actually was, and he looks quite effeminate in that form, and you ice maidens certainly like your lovers on the effeminate side."

"I know Kurama is a fox demon, I've known since the second time I met him!"

"So you are the dirty little deviant your people warned me you were? You are intentionally seeking to satisfy your carnal desires with a natural enemy of your people? What's the matter: feeling left out that a fox demon never caught you when you lived in the ice village?"

Yukina began struggling against the plant holding her in place, but her efforts did little more than tighten the leaves around her, and as the leaf around her neck began to tighten she stopped abruptly for fear of choking herself.

"If you like, I'll let you try to run away from me," Fumio offered. "Since you are such a dirty little girl, you'd probably enjoy that, wouldn't you? You could justify it in your conscience then: you tried to escape, you fought with all you had, but the big bad fox still caught you and ravished you."

"Let me go!" Yukina yelled.

"Why?" Fumio asked with a smirk. "Are you eager to get started? In that case I'll gladly oblige."

He moved one foot forwards to the base of the pereskia and it began slowly shrinking back in on itself. Yukina sighed in relief and rubbed her hands at her throat, watching the leaves unfurl from her legs.

"I'm feeling very generous today," Fumio said. "I'm going to give you a thirty second head-start. It makes it more sporting if you get ahead of me and I'm sure we'll both enjoy the chase itself. A good chase gets the blood pumping, the adrenalin flowing – and it should put some colour into your lifeless face."

Fumio folded his arms and eyed Yukina over expectantly as the demon plant that had been holding her captive finally disappeared back into the ground.

"Well?" he said when she remained where she was. "What are you waiting for? Aren't you going to use this time to try to run away?"

"No," Yukina replied quietly. "I'm not going to run away from you."

"Really? How incredibly dull. You're worse than that miserable wench Rui: she didn't put up much of a fight either."

"I said I wasn't going to run. I didn't say I wasn't going to fight."

Yukina drew out her sword and met Fumio's eyes. He smiled and let his arms fall to his sides.

"Now this is an exciting development," he purred. "The emotionless ice maiden is going to fight for her purity! You won't last ten seconds against me of course."

"Your arrogance will be your downfall," Yukina warned him.

"Oh I like you, little ice maiden. This is going to be fun."

* * *

"What do you mean "where we left her"?" Kuwabara asked. "We didn't leave Yukina anywhere. We haven't even seen her since the start of this mission!"

"Hiei assured us that she was safe," Kurama pointed out.

"Hn, not very safe with you, was she?" Hiei spat back.

"Is this about her drawings and poems?" Kurama asked. "Or about my confession to hunting the ice maidens for sex?"

"You hunted ice maidens for sex?" Hiei echoed.

"I told you this already," Kurama calmly replied.

"Hn, I don't know what disgusts and pisses me off more: the fact that you kissed her, or the fact that you thought she was me when you did it!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about: I'm talking about what you did last night!"

"Last night I slept, while you went back to living world and lured Botan into bed with you when you knew that I liked her!"

"Last night I was floating down the River of Dreams and over the Waterfall of Ecstasy – which was not an ecstatic experience, but rather the worst case of false advertising ever! I woke up when I cracked my head on the Rocks of Eternal Fun, and then, after trekking across the Fields of Everlasting Stupidity, I got to Justice Road, where I was thrown off the path for trying to open a stupid gate, and I only managed to survive that experience because of the ogre, who I then had to carry on my back all the way to the crapped out Orchard of Patheticness, before running to here through the Forest of Smugness and over the Hill of Self-Righteous Bullshit!"

Kurama's face slowly twisted in confusion.

"I'd like to just point out that there are no Rocks of Eternal Fun or Fields of Everlasting Stupidity, and the Orchard is just called the Orchard," Koenma said meekly.

"Though there is a Forest of Smugness," Botan pointed out. "And it's the Hill of the Self-Righteous, not the Hill of Self-Righteous Bullshit. And if you hadn't run off the way you did and melted the River of Dreams in a fit of anger, none of that would have happened to you."

"A fit of anger?" Kurama echoed. "Hiei does everything in a fit of anger. He never plans ahead for anything. Though if everything he just said is true, where did he find the time to sleep with you last night Botan?"

"I didn't sleep with her last night!" Hiei snapped.

"Oh really?" Kurama asked.

"Yes, really!" Hiei retorted. "I slept with her the night before."

Kurama frowned.

"What?" he asked. "But we were still in demon world the night before last – at the hotel in Arbeinia."

"I know you were," Hiei replied sarcastically. "I saw you with my jagan eye!"

"You were there with your jagan eye!" Yusuke pointed out.

"Idiots!" Hiei roared.

"Hiei wasn't there with you," Koenma said. "Just as he wasn't with you last night, or at all during this entire mission until now."

"What?" Yusuke echoed.

"But he has been there," Kuwabara argued. "He was there making rude and sarcastic comments as usual the whole time!"

"That wasn't Hiei," Botan said.

"What?" Kurama echoed, his eyes growing large.

"It was Yukina, you idiots!" Hiei shouted.

Silence descended on the group as Hiei's last remark echoed off the rocks around them. The moment ended when Yusuke started to laugh, nudging Kuwabara in the ribs and encouraging him to join in.

"Yukina!" Yusuke snorted. "Oh sure! That was Yukina who drove the truck across demon world, and that was Yukina who just ran right in there to fight Fumio in spirit world, and that was Yukina who the ice maidens all turned on back in demon world, and it was Yukina that killed that demon tree using frosted crack… And Yukina who had the hots for Kurama… And Yukina who was immune to the wood nymphs' attacks… And Yukina who just came along Justice Road with us and watched me open the second gate… Shit."

"The second gate?" Botan echoed. "Wait, I thought the second gate was the one that could only be opened by a vir–"

"Stop!" Yusuke shouted. "Just stop."

"Yukina?" Kuwabara said. "But it can't have been! She looked just like Hiei! I mean, she wasn't so buff and her voice wasn't so nasally, but… She had a… In her pants, I felt a…"

"A pair of your balled up sports socks that you leave at Genkai's place for emergencies?" Yusuke asked flatly. "A pair of your balled up sports socks that we found in the hot spring after I took off Hiei's pants?"

"After you took off Yukina's pants…" Kuwabara said.

"But… I nearly shaved off her eyebrow…" Yusuke said faintly. "And then I nearly shaved her leg, only it was already…"

"I farted in her face…"

"I kicked her in the boobs…"

"I took a piss in front of her…"

"I got naked around her more times than I can even remember…"

"Oh God…"

"But… How?"

"Oh, I can answer that," Botan volunteered. "She was using a very clever disguise – a disguise so clever, it puts all of my previous disguises to shame."

"Yukina?" Kurama said.

"Yes, Yukina," Hiei said.

"Well I guess you've got a right to be pissed," Yusuke said, releasing his hold of Hiei. "Kurama's been behaving like a total dick around your sister. And he left her tied up in a plant on her own on the Mountain of Faith."

Hiei stepped forwards, shrugging to adjust his dishevelled clothing back into place.

"I'm not getting in the middle of this," Kuwabara muttered, releasing Kurama.

Kurama stepped away from him, but he kept his eyes down, ignoring the way Hiei was glaring at him.

"I don't care about this stupid place or a few trees," Hiei said. "You can all go on, but I'm going back for Yukina."

"I'm coming with you," Kurama said.

"Me too," Botan said. "And Rui."

She pointed at Rui, who nodded in agreement.

"And me," Yusuke said. "And Kuwabara."

"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed. "I got to see this to believe it…"

"Hey, what about the invaders and Captain Ootake?" Koenma asked.

"You and your merry men can rest up here until we get back," Yusuke suggested. "But we're not going any further without Yukina."

"Alright, let's go!" Botan said cheerfully, hoisting her oar up over her head.

She screamed in alarm and all the joy vanished from her face as something slammed into her oar, knocking it out of her grip. As her oar hit the ground, the others all looked down at it to see an arrow pierced through the blade.

"Damn it, not those guys again," Yusuke grumbled.

"Again?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yeah, me and Yukina met them in demon world just before we got to the illegal gateway to spirit world," Yusuke replied. "One of the bastards shot me and Yukina had to help me get the arrow out of my leg."

"I saw that," Hiei said. "She helped you get the arrow out and then while she was using her healing powers to close the wound on your leg you kicked her three feet into the air!"

"She cured the wound?" Yusuke asked. "So that's where the hole in my leg disappeared to!"

"That's not all she cured," Kurama said. "Yukina cured us all of the virus. We all contracted it the moment we entered demon world – the doctors at the medical transporter confirmed as much – but Yukina, as an ice maiden, was immune, and so never became ill. She must have cured us all while we slept that first night here. She saved our lives."

A second arrow whistled towards Rui, but stopped just short of her back as Hiei dashed forwards and caught it midair, burning it to ash in a short blast of black flames.

"Let's take care of these guys fast so we can get back to Yukina," Yusuke advised.

"Or not," Koenma said, pointing at something behind Yusuke.

The others all turned to see a large group of demons with a bound and angry SDF officer between them.

* * *

"Shall we make this a sword duel? Since you seem to fancy yourself as a swordsman now. Or should I saw swordsgirl?"

Fumio smiled as he drew out a blade of grass from his hair. He began lengthening it into a sword, but stopped halfway as Yukina lunged forwards, stabbing her weapon at his midsection. He arched his back in a last second attempt to avoid the attack, and although he managed to avoid being gored, he did not avoid being stabbed, the end of the sword piercing into his stomach just above his navel, penetrating deeply enough to leave behind a wound that freely wept blood as Yukina withdrew her sword.

"You fight dirty," he commented.

"I learned from my brother never to hesitate in battle," Yukina replied.

"Yes, you seem to have learned a lot from his fighting style," Fumio replied. "Including the delusion that you can compete with a warrior far more experienced than you and infinitely stronger than you are."

Fumio swung his grass blade at Yukina, who barely managed to parry the attack. She staggered back several steps as Fumio relentlessly attacked her, not really paying attention to where she was backing up to until her surroundings grew darker and her boots splashed into a puddle. She glanced around nervously upon the realisation that she was trapped in the cave she had kissed Kurama in the night before, only noticing that Fumio had stopped attacking when he said her name.

"If you stop this farce now, I'll let you heal the wound you've given me and I'll consider letting you live as one of my concubines when we get back to demon world," he offered.

"One of your concubines?" Yukina repeated. "You say that as though you expect to have several."

"I will do one day," Fumio replied. "Assuming a position of power and having one's very own harem of concubines is every fox demon's dream."

"Well dream on, Fabio!"

Yukina aimed another attack at Fumio, but he caught it with his grass sword, and, with a few expert flicks of his wrist, he worked Yukina's sword out of her grasp, sending it flying across the cave with an echoing clatter as it bounced across the rocky cave floor. She gasped, looking down first at his blade and then trying to retrieve her own weapon. She started to dive at the point where it had landed, but as she reached out her hands towards it they closed around empty air as the waistband of her pants caught against her stomach. She looked back over her shoulder to see Fumio, his blade still in one hand and his other hand gripped into the back of the waistband of her pants. She tried to pull forwards in one last bid to recover her sword before moving her hands to the belts of her pants.

"If you take your pants off now, you will only be making things easier – and arguably a lot less fun – for me later," Fumio warned her.

Yukina paused, racking her mind for an answer. She had become something of an expert at extemporising in the last several days and she was not about to quit now. Fumio began pulling her back and she let him do it, trying her best to look defeated as he pulled her back flush against his body. From the corner of her eye she saw him banish his blade, and she waited until it had vanished completely before elbowing him in the gut, trying to aim for his wound and only marginally missing her intended target. He grunted and his grasp lessened, but as she tried to repeat her attack he moved his free arm around her neck, squeezing her throat in the bend of his elbow. She coughed in panic, her hands grabbing at his arm on instinct and trying to claw it away from herself.

"That was a very stupid thing that you just did, Yukina," Fumio growled into her ear. "Because now you've made me angry, and when I get angry, I can't control how hard I hit or how hard I thrust."

Yukina choked out a cry of alarm, gripping her fingers into Fumio's arm and attempting to freeze it. He gritted his teeth and held on, squeezing tighter at her neck.

"If you freeze my arm solid in this position, you'll only lock yourself into this hold," he pointed out.

She paused briefly to consider his words and he immediately took advantage of her hesitation, unhooking his arms from around her neck and shoving her into the puddle. She fell forwards onto her hands and knees and Fumio kicked his heel into her backside, pushing her forwards face-first into the water.

"You didn't honestly think you could fight me, did you Yukina?" he asked. "Be serious: I've spent my time wisely, training my mind and body, whilst you have wasted your life learning new ways to hide. That's all you ice maidens ever do, isn't it? You hide. You hide your emotions and you hide from your emotions. You hide your lives, your hide your bodies, you hide your ignorance and you hide your weaknesses."

"And we hide our power," Yukina quietly said.

"Don't make me laugh!"

Yukina swept her hands out to one side, splashing water on Fumio's legs.

"Nice comeback," he said sarcastically.

Yukina jumped forwards out of the puddle and touched a hand to the water's edge, freezing the water behind her. As Fumio was standing with his feet just in the water, the ice quickly encased his feet and travelled up past his knees where she had splashed water into him. He smiled and tried to move one leg, apparently under the illusion that he would be able to simply break his way out. When he found himself stuck fast his smile turned into a sneer.

"I told you your arrogance would be your downfall," Yukina reminded him.

She hurried around the edge of the cave, being careful to keep herself beyond arm's reach from Fumio, and retrieved her sword. Once she had a hold of her weapon, a strange feeling passed over her, and, as she turned back to Fumio and saw the way he was smirking over his shoulder at her, she could tell that he already knew what she was thinking.

"You're bluffing," he said. "You should have run away when you had the chance, because you're not a fighter. You don't have it in you to kill me, and if you don't kill me, you won't stop me."

Yukina looked down at her sword, the tip of which was still slightly stained with Fumio's blood. She had already used the weapon to kill in her journey through demon world with Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara, but those instances had all been the result of her either misjudging what she had intended to be a maiming attack or else a demon coincidentally charging into her blade. Fumio was right: she was not a killer. She knew that she could not let him go, because he would continue to spread chaos in spirit world and probably kidnap and mistreat even more of the ice maidens when he returned to demon world: but if killing him was the only way to stop him then she was stuck.

"Why don't you put away the sword and stop this charade?" Fumio asked, his voice strangely gentle and almost welcoming. "Come with me, and together we can take back the treasures from King Enma's private collection."

"Take back?" Yukina echoed.

"Yes, didn't you know?" Fumio asked. "No, of course you didn't know, you've lived such a sheltered, uneducated life that you know little about the true history of demon world. King Enma has an entire vault full of treasures his soldiers stole from demon world when they took part of our world into their control. And the real reason spirit world has never managed to take any more of demon world into their control is because those who live near the fringes of spirit world's influence have given their most prized possessions to King Enma as a bribe to stop him from taking their homes and livelihood. Does that sound fair to you, Yukina? Can you imagine what life is like for the demons living there: they have been left impoverished and under constant threat. I suppose their lives have always been much the same as the lives of your people were for a matter of days when they were chased from their home and almost sold into slavery. You helped the ice maidens get their lives back, didn't you Yukina?"

"Yes, I did."

"But you won't help the demons living along the borders?"

"I don't see how I can help them."

"You can help them by helping me take their treasures back from King Enma and returning them to their rightful owners."

"I thought you said you wanted to steal the treasures to make yourself a rich and powerful leader?"

"You misunderstand: wealth isn't all about how much gold you have in your hand. It's all politics, Yukina. If I return those treasures to their original owners, I will become a hero to those people, and they will ally themselves with me naturally. If I can win over enough of them, I can be in a position to challenge Enki for leadership of demon world."

"But you've hurt so many innocent people, you're not blameless. You did terrible things to Miss Rui."

"I needed Rui to get this far. I needed someone with a clearer conscience than my own to help me pass through spirit world. I don't think I treated her unfairly. If you agreed to help me, I wouldn't treat you unfairly either."

"Lies!"

Yukina moved around the edge of the puddle to position herself directly in front of Fumio.

"Why are you lying to me now?" she demanded. "You told me you only wanted to keep me as one of your harem of concubines!"

"If you fight me all the way, you leave me with no other choice," Fumio replied. "But if you're a good girl, and you help me, maybe I'll change my mind. Just think Yukina: you could be my partner. Together we could liberate those poor souls trapped in poverty by spirit world and together we could overthrow Enki and rule demon world."

"I don't want to rule demon world," Yukina said. "Not with you, not with anyone else and not even on my own."

Fumio smiled, looking almost gentle and trustworthy in Yukina's eyes.

"The trick you played on Kurama and his allies, do you really think they will forgive you for it?" he asked.

Yukina twitched but otherwise did not respond.

"You lied to them," Fumio continued. "You put them all in great danger. They relied on you as if you were your brother, as if you were a capable warrior who could fight on the same level as they can. They put their lives in your hands. Us fox demons don't like dirty liars, Yukina. We rarely trust anyone implicitly, but when we do, that individual should never dare try to betray us. Right now, little ice maiden, your fox is angry, disappointed and disgusted. He will never be able to look you in the eye again. And what about Hiei? Do you think he's happy that you stole his identity and abused it to help fulfil your own silly little fantasies?"

"You don't…" Yukina began weakly. "It's not like that, I… I was only trying to help!"

"How many days do you think it would have taken Kurama and his allies to find my men and drive them out of spirit world if Hiei had been fighting alongside them instead of you?" Fumio asked.

Yukina paused long enough to count back through just how many days had passed since the day Koenma and Botan had called everyone to Genkai's temple to inform them all of the problems in spirit world. When she realised that Koenma and Botan's visit had happened ten days ago she then realised two other worrying thoughts: ten days of travelling with Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara meant that Hiei had been detained in a healing chamber, still sick, for an extra ten days without her there to cure him, and at least three of those ten days had been spent entirely on finding the ice maidens and returning them home, something she doubted would have happened if Hiei had been a part of the team in her place. And maybe those three days would yet prove to be instrumental: maybe that extra three days without a cure would leave Hiei permanently weakened or worse, and maybe arriving in spirit world three days earlier would have meant that the others would have been on time to prevent the destruction of the spirit world orchard.

"I never meant for it to go this far," she said faintly. "I thought it would be over in two or three days. I never expected it to go on this long or become this complicated. I didn't foresee what happened to my people, but once I had witnessed it, I couldn't go back. I had to help them."

"Why were you tied up in a demon pereskia?" Fumio asked.

"I don't know," she said with a sigh. "Kurama said something about Botan and something about me being a hindrance."

"But you are a hindrance to a creature like Kurama, surely you can see that now."

"Yes, I suppose I can."

"And who is Botan?"

"She's a ferry girl. Kurama is in love with her.

"Blue hair, pink eyes, ridiculous sense of fashion?"

"Yes, have you met her?"

"She was the one who gave me the spirit world eyeglass."

Yukina balked.

"I suppose she wanted the truth to be known," Fumio continued. "She had seen through your little ruse, and, as Kurama's lover, she probably just wanted to warn him about your tricks."

"But Botan's not Kurama's lover," Yukina said, her sword slipping from her grip and clattering to the cave floor. "Botan doesn't care for Kurama, she desires Hiei, she told me as much herself only a few days ago!"

"She's quite a fickle creature though, isn't she?" Fumio responded. "The sort who changes her mind as often as she changes her clothes."

Yukina gasped: Botan changed her clothes several times a day!

"I'm not really sure that Kurama would choose you over the ferry girl now, Yukina," Fumio continued, pacing his words carefully to ensure that she heard and felt the impact of every single one. "After all, your little stunt has proven to him that you're a liar, you're manipulative, you can't be trusted and that you're incredibly confused about your own sexuality and your sexual identity: what sort of girl disguises herself as a man in order to pursue her love interest? The best you could have hoped for was that Kurama might start to desire Hiei."

"I was going to tell him, I was always going to tell him!" Yukina argued.

"And yet you never did."

"It was never the right moment."

"When would have been the right moment? When he kissed you for the first time?"

Yukina lowered her head and Fumio started to grin.

"You've already kissed him?" he asked. "In that disguise? With him under the illusion that you were Hiei?"

"I was trying to tell him," she muttered, keeping her head down.

"I don't think you were," he replied. "I don't think Kurama would have found out until he was either reunited with the real Hiei or until he took off your clothes and realised that a few things were missing. And how do you think Kurama will react when he finds out the truth? When he finds out that you've been lying to him, leading his astray and, most importantly, that you didn't even have the courage to tell him the truth yourself?"

Yukina opened her mouth and opened out her hands to answer, but words failed her.

"I don't imagine Hiei will be too happy with you either, little one," Fumio added. "You stole his identity, tarnished his reputation as a ruthless and merciless fighter and kissed his best friend as though you were Hiei himself. You've potentially ruined the relationship between Hiei and Kurama too."

"I never meant to do that," Yukina said quietly.

"Kurama and Hiei will both hate you for this," Fumio insisted. "I expect they'll shun you or else return you to the ice village to live with all the other deceivers of your race. Though I doubt you'll be welcomed home. The elders of the ice village didn't have a single good word to say about you, Yukina. It seems you're making yourself a lot of enemies everywhere you go."

"But I didn't mean to hurt anyone!" Yukina cried, lifting her head and looking him directly in the eye.

"It doesn't look that way to an objective observer of the events."

"It just got so complicated, and so much bigger than I originally thought it would! It's just like Kurama said: there are so many threads tangled together in one big knot and… Only time can untangle it now, it's too great a knot for me to untie."

Yukina sighed.

"You're right," she admitted, trying to hold back the bitterness she felt. "They won't ever forgive me for what I've done. They would be justified in shunning me. And, given that I forced them to free all of my people, they probably will take me back to the ice village, where, as you quite rightly said, I won't be welcomed."

"Yes, it's quite the conundrum for you, isn't it?" Fumio said. "Your new friends don't want you any more and your clan won't let you return to your birthplace. It seems you are homeless and friendless. How terrible for you."

Yukina began combing her fingers through her hair, wincing as they caught several times. It had taken a lot of effort every morning to restyle her own hair to match Hiei's, but now it just felt uncomfortable and was clearly unnecessary, and so she began pulling it back down.

"And you look terrible," Fumio added, as though she needed to be told as much. "What will you do now?"

She paused, her fingers tangled in her hair, and moved her eyes to Fumio's. She could not tell if he was mocking her or not with his question, but either way, she had no definite answer.

"My offer still stands," he said gently. "You could come with me and together we could reclaim the stolen treasures from King Enma's vault and then return them to their rightful owners in demon world."

"I can't do that," she replied. "It's still stealing, and you did unthinkable things to Miss Rui. I can't trust you."

"You don't have many other choices," he pointed out. "In fact, your only other choice is to return to Kurama and Hiei and tell them both what a manipulative little liar you really are. At least if you come with me, you'll never have to see the disappointment in their faces."

Yukina's hands slowly lowered, leaving her hair partially flattened and looking ridiculously untidy.

"You don't want to disappoint Kurama and Hiei, do you Yukina?" Fumio pressed.

She slowly shook her head, avoiding looking directly at him. She did not want to help him do anything, but the thought of returning to Kurama, after the way he had looked at her and spoken to her that morning, was far more daunting: not to mention how irate Hiei was likely to be when he found out that she had tarnished his reputation over the last few days by failing to respond to certain situations the way he would have done.

"Set me free and within two days, I will make you into a new woman," Fumio offered.

Yukina crouched down by the edge of the ice, peering at her own blurry reflection in it. She looked about as pathetic as she felt, and, she realised, she was too scared to confront Kurama and Hiei again – so scared that taking Fumio's offer seemed like the better option. She placed her hands on the ice and carefully turned the solid block into a collection of ice crystals that allowed Fumio to step out. Once he was free she stood up again, meeting his eyes as he started to walk around the edge of the ice crystals towards her.

"Why two days?" she asked him.

"Because something very special happens on the twelfth night," he replied, his shadow falling over her.

* * *

"What happens on the twelfth night?" Botan asked. "And the twelfth night from when?"

"From when Lord Koenma left spirit world to enlist outside help with the invasion," Rui replied. "Fumio said that it would take twelve days from that day for the second part of his plan to take effect."

"What is the second part of his plan?" Botan asked.

"I'm not sure," Rui answered.

"Not sure? Didn't you think to find out?"

"My thoughts were mostly consumed with worry for Yukina and wondering if I could ever safely escape Fumio without him then going after Yukina."

"What sort of diabolical plan would take twelve days?"

"It has something to do with some seeds he planted by the site of the portal to demon world."

"Maybe the seeds take twelve days to grow?"

"Perhaps."

"There's a new moon two nights from now, maybe that has something to do with it. Oh dear, we have to put a stop to whatever it is, and fast!"

Botan sped up, forgetting to warn Rui before she did so. The ice maiden grasped at Botan's oar on either side of herself, barely managing to hold on as she began arcing around the side of a mountain. The two of them had managed to escape the fighting, leaving Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, Koenma and what was left of the SDF to fight the demons holding the SDF captain hostage. When it was clear that Fumio was not amongst those fighting, both Rui and Botan had become concerned, and shortly joined together to make their escape. According to Yusuke, Yukina had been left behind by a dugout partway up the Mountain of Faith, and Botan was heading that way in the hope of finding Yukina before Fumio did.

As they reached the dugout and found no trace of either Yukina or Fumio, both Botan and Rui began to become panicked: and both processed their concerns in different ways.

"Do you think that's him over there?" Botan whispered, pointing over at a shrivelled shrub on the hillside.

"No," Rui replied. "That's a plant. Fumio is a fox demon. He controls plants, but he can't turn into one."

Botan nodded before pointing at a clump of grass between two rocks.

"No," Rui said quickly before the ferry girl could speak.

Botan nodded again, but then gasped, and grabbed a handful of Rui's kimono by her shoulder.

"Maybe it's Yukina!" she said.

"Why would it be Yukina?" Rui asked.

"Maybe Fumio used his foxy powers to transmute her into grass!" Botan replied

"…No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Botan nodded again and steered her oar over a ridge of rocks and towards the path that led down the hillside. As the length of the path came fully into her view she stopped short, her eyes doubling in size and Rui almost falling off the oar headfirst as she failed to predict Botan's abrupt halt.

"My goodness, Hiei is so fast!" Botan said as Rui righted herself at her side. "Look at that! He finished fighting those other demons and got here before us to fight Fumio! I didn't even see him pass us!"

Rui watched the scene ahead: Fumio was walking down the path with a figure dressed in black at his side – a small, delicate, light-footed figure.

"Amazing," Botan said with a sigh.

"That you can't tell the difference, yes," Rui muttered under her breath.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Botan and Rui discover than Yukina has wilfully run away with Fumio, Yusuke and Co. defeat the remaining demon presence in spirit world and rescue the SDF captain but they are then all surprised (and in some cases more than a little confused) when they find out what Yukina has done and why. **Chapter 30 – The Necessary**

The "untying the knot with time" skit was a near-direct quote from "Twelfth Night". I'm still remembering to insert them. Randomly about without much purpose, but still, insert them I do.


	30. The Necessary

**Chapter 30: The Necessary**

"They're not really fighting very much, are they? It looks more like they're just two friends, out for a friendly stroll… Wait, is that Kurama in his full demon form? It is, isn't it? It's Kurama and Hiei. But how did they get here ahead of us? And where are they going? Don't they know they can't pass the gates on Justice Road without someone else's help?"

Rui twitched.

"What are the prerequisites of becoming a ferry girl?" she asked.

"There are lots of perks for being a ferry girl, but there are some not-so-good things about it too," Botan replied, squinting at the receding figures on the path ahead of them.

"That's not the question I asked…" Rui said. "Well anyway, that's clearly Fumio and Yukina before us."

"Yes, you're right. Clearly Fumio and Yukina did leave here before us."

"Are you listening to me?"

"Yes…"

"What should we do? We're not strong enough to fight Fumio individually, but do you think the three of us could overpower him?"

Botan turned to look directly at Rui, pouting and frowning curiously.

"Maybe if we took him by surprise?" Rui tried.

"Hiei doesn't need our help to fight Fumio," Botan replied. "He managed to fight him well enough when we rescued you and he would surely have defeated him if he hadn't made the mistake of defrosting the River of Dreams. But, since there are no frozen rivers here, I think Hiei will manage just fine on his own. We should concentrate on finding Yukina."

Rui pointed at the duo on the path ahead of them, her mouth moving redundantly as words failed her.

"They're probably just walking to a more suitable location for their battle," Botan said. "After all, it would be a bit silly for them to get into a scuffle this close to the Cliff of Honesty."

Rui tried to talk again and again she failed to find the words to convey her thoughts to Botan.

"I should probably warn Hiei about that actually," Botan said.

"What?" Rui muttered.

"Hiei!" Botan shouted.

Rui balked as both Fumio and Yukina stopped and turned around to face them.

"Be careful at the Cliff of Honesty!" Botan called down to them. "If you fall off, you'll be banished to a place of pain and suffering!"

"The same place of pain and suffering victims of Justice Road are sent to when they fail to open a gate or a different place of pain and suffering?" Fumio called back up to her.

"I don't know!" Botan shouted. "But either way, a bad fox like you will be in big trouble if you fall!"

Fumio muttered something unpleasant about the logic of spirit world that made Botan gasp in horror.

"What are the two of you doing here?" Yukina asked.

"We were looking for you!" Rui answered.

"Well, no, we were looking for Yukina, actually," Botan corrected her. "And Fumio. But since you're taking care of Fumio, we'll continue our search for Yukina."

"It isn't safe here, you should both go back to the temple!" Yukina warned them.

"You said I could be a part of this adventure, Mister!" Botan snapped back.

"I didn't say that," Yukina replied.

"Yes you did, Hiei!"

"I'm not Hiei!"

"Don't try that trick with me again! Fool me once, shame on you, fool me seven or more times, shame on me!"

"…Just get out of here!"

"Yes, the two of you should really leave," Fumio said to Botan and Rui. "We have no further use for either of you."

Botan began muttering complaints under her breath but Rui stiffened in alarm.

"We?" she said.

"Yes that's right, we," Fumio confirmed. "Yukina has decided to become my partner."

"Oh no she hasn't!" Botan yelled. "Tell him, Hiei!"

"I'm not Hiei, Botan!" Yukina growled.

"That's right, despite her outward appearance, this is in fact Yukina," Fumio said. "And as you can see, she has chosen to side with me."

"You're taking her against her will," Rui said.

"Not really," Fumio replied. "She was even more willing to join up with me than you were, Rui."

"I'm confused…" Botan muttered. "Where's Yukina?"

"Over here, you idiot!" Fumio barked, pointing at Yukina.

"She's in disguise, remember?" Rui whispered to Botan.

"Right, yes, I understand now," Botan said, nodding slowly. "So where's Hiei?"

"Probably still fighting those bandits we encountered by the River of Dreams," Rui replied.

"Right…"

"Do you understand?"

"Probably not."

Rui's face dropped, but she did not have long to dwell on her pains as Fumio called up to them again, cutting into her thoughts.

"We're leaving," he said. "If the two of you stay there and don't try to follow us or send anyone else after us, I won't bother killing you."

"So what happened to Kurama?" Botan called back to him.

"Kurama?" Yukina echoed. "Something happened to Kurama?"

"This is very confusing…" Botan said.

"What part of "stay away from me and I won't kill you" don't you understand?" Fumio snapped.

"So there are two Hieis and two Kuramas now?" Botan asked.

"That's Fumio and Yukina," Rui reminded her.

"But how can you tell?" Botan whispered. "They look just like Kurama and Hiei!"

"What part of this do you not understand?" Rui asked, her patience waning. "It was you who told me about Yukina's ruse, you explained to me how she had disguised herself this way, why can't you understand it any more?"

"She's from spirit world," Fumio said before Botan could answer Rui. "The spells Yukina has used to disguise herself were created by enchantments far stronger and darker than the limitations of the ferry girl's powers will allow her to conceive. She doesn't stand a chance of seeing through this disguise."

"Is that true?" Rui asked Botan.

"Why is Hiei just standing there with that fox demon if he isn't Kurama?" Botan asked.

"Farewell, ladies," Fumio said.

He waved a hand at Botan and Rui and then dropped it onto Yukina's shoulder, grabbing a handful of her shirt and pulling her around to face away from Botan and Rui. He released Yukina and turned around, and together they started to walk off again. Rui turned to Botan expectantly, and found her scratching her head and pouting.

"Having two Kuramas makes this all very confusing," she said.

"That's not your friend Kurama, that's Fumio," Rui pointed out.

"Yes, I know, but he looks very like Kurama," Botan replied. "It's very difficult to tell the difference between the two."

"Trust me, that is Fumio, and he is abducting Yukina," Rui insisted.

"He is?"

Botan looked about herself and then squinted down the path at Fumio's back.

"Where is she?" she asked.

"She's right there, next to…" Rui began.

"Next to Hiei?" Botan asked. "No, I still don't see Yukina anywhere…"

Rui balled her fists and sighed in frustration.

"Should we follow them?" Botan asked, summoning her oar.

"Yes!" Rui immediately replied. "We must follow them!"

"Oh good!" Botan said cheerfully, lowering her oar and sitting onto it. "I'm so glad you enjoy adventuring as much as I do!"

Rui forced a smile and nodded, sitting down at Botan's side. She could not really be sure if Botan's confusion was because of the nature of the talismans Yukina had placed upon herself or because she was the sort of person who was easily confused, but she decided not to try to find out, rather to just humour Botan as best she could until they caught up to Fumio and Yukina, at which point she hoped she could convince Botan to help her get Yukina away from the wayward fox demon.

Botan flew at a steady pace behind Fumio and Yukina for some time before suddenly veering off to one side of the path. Rui tried to ask her what she was doing, but ended up chewing on Botan's ponytail as the wind whipped it around against her face. Botan moved around in a wide circle before zooming downwards, coming to a halt in front of Fumio and Yukina, who both stopped abruptly.

"I can't let you go any further," Botan said.

"What?" Fumio, Yukina and Rui all said in unison.

"I said I can't let you go any further," Botan replied. "It's too dangerous."

The others looked around at where they were: the path came a halt a short way behind Botan and Rui, the edge dropping down in a steep, jagged cliff that led into a hollow abyss. But there was a slightly ragged rope bridge leading off of the path, crossing the drop to another path on a nearby mountain.

"It's just a bridge," Fumio said.

"Nothing in spirit world is as it seems," Yukina warned. "It's probably a trap of some sort."

"Hiei's right, the bridge is a trap," Botan replied.

"I'm not Hi…" Yukina began. "Never mind…"

"I think you're lying," Fumio said to Botan. "You're just trying to stall us."

"No I'm not, I'm trying to protect Hiei!" Botan snapped, waving a hand at Yukina. "This is the Cliff of Honesty, and this bridge is the only way to cross from here to the Mountain of Rapture, but you can only cross if you're not a liar! The test is the bridge: how it looks to a liar is not the same as how it looks to an honest soul. Only those who can see the true bridge can cross. Those who see the false bridge plummet to a place of eternal pain and suffering."

Fumio rolled his eyes and turned to Yukina.

"What do you see?" he asked her.

"A-a rope bridge?" she replied. "It just looks like it's made of rope and wooden planks to me."

"Me too," Fumio agreed. "So that must mean that I can see the true bridge."

"No!" Botan said, holding up her hands at Fumio took one step forwards. "You're both seeing the same bridge because you're both liars!"

Fumio looked down at Yukina thoughtfully before slowly nodding and turning back to Botan.

"It literally rejects all liars, regardless of intent or purity of character?" he asked.

"Lying is a very naughty habit," Botan sternly replied.

"It looks like a rope bridge with wooden planks to me too," Rui said, looking back over her shoulder at the bridge. "So no-one but you can cross it Botan?"

"You're a liar too Rui?" Botan gasped, turning to look directly at her. "I can't believe I'm the only one here who isn't a liar, that's just – ooh, it looks like a rope bridge with wooden planks to me too, that's not how it used to look…"

"So… None of us can cross?" Yukina asked.

"This is getting ridiculous," Fumio grumbled.

"We need to find another way around," Yukina pointed out.

"How else can we get over there, ferry girl?" Fumio asked Botan.

"There is a much, much longer route you can take," she replied. "But it does mean going all the way down this mountain, crossing the Glen of Goodwill, swimming through Lake Fantasy, scrambling over the Boulders of–"

"You're bluffing," Fumio cut her off. "If the bridge looks the same to us all, then we can all pass it. Why would the rulers of spirit world place an obstacle that could trap one of their own residents? You go first."

Fumio placed a hand on Yukina's back and pushed her towards the bridge. She grunted and stumbled forwards before managing to right herself and stop just before her feet reached the edge of the cliff. She leaned forwards slightly and peered over the edge, staring into the darkness beneath her expectantly: but, no matter how long she stared, she could not make out the bottom of the fathomless void beneath the base of the cliff. What lay beyond it was as pleasant as the rest of the spirit world countryside, but the void itself was disconcertingly wide and looked endlessly deep.

"I might fall," she said, keeping her eyes on the drop as she spoke, but raising her voice enough to be sure that Fumio would hear her. "I lied when I disguised myself as my brother, and I put the lives of my friends in danger."

"I didn't know you had a brother, Hiei!" Botan called over to her.

Yukina groaned quietly before continuing.

"If I fall, how will you continue your mission without my help?"

She slowly turned her head, looking back over her shoulder at the fox demon. He appeared to be considering what she was saying.

"Yes…" he said slowly. "You might fall, and you're no use to me at the bottom of a pit of eternal pain and suffering… Get away from the edge, I have a better idea."

Yukina sighed in relief and turned around.

"We'll go the long way?" she asked.

"No, we'll use a different test subject," Fumio replied.

Yukina took a moment to register exactly what he meant, and her hesitation allowed Fumio enough time to grab Rui's ankles and pull her from Botan's oar. Yukina pounced at Fumio, ramming her shoulder into his gut. He staggered back a step and Botan leapt down to help Rui to her feet and guide her a few steps away from the edge of the cliff.

"You agreed to team-up with me, Yukina!" Fumio snarled. "Is this how you think team-mates treat each other? Because if it is, you should bear in mind that I am a thousand times stronger than you are."

"I never agreed to let you hurt my friends!" Yukina argued back. "I agreed to teaming up with you because I thought you would leave my friends in peace if I did! I won't stand by and let you hurt them!"

"Hiei!" Botan snapped. "How could you agree to team up with him? I thought your days of double-crossing us were long behind you!"

"Someone make her stop," Fumio growled, glaring at Botan.

"I have a better idea," Yukina said. "You should be the test subject!"

She pushed Fumio towards the bridge but, although he did stumble in that direction, he was easily able to stop himself before he reached the edge of the cliff.

"Maybe I need to remind you how much stronger than you I really am," he said, narrowing his eyes as he glared at Yukina.

"And maybe I need to remind you what an ice maiden does to a fox demon who sets foot somewhere he isn't welcome!" Yukina replied, drawing out her sword.

"Big words, little girl," Fumio replied.

Yukina tightened her grip on her weapon and pounced towards him. He aimed a punch at her but she hit back his hand with the flat side of her blade, ducking under his elbow and then dropping her sword with a clatter to grab both hands onto his tail. He grunted out a small sound of alarm as she dropped to her knees, pulling him back and down. The pain and distinct worry that she was going to cut off his tail as he had seen many of her kind do to his kin slowed his reactions and he failed to see the roundhouse kick she aimed at the back of his ankles. Unprepared for the attack, he tripped backwards and stumbled off the edge of the cliff and onto the bridge: which his feet promptly passed through as though it were a mere hologram. As he began to fall he grabbed both hands at Yukina, catching one leg of her pants with one hand and the side of her shirt with the other. Her eyes went wide the instant before his weight caught against her and she slid helplessly onto the bridge and straight through it just as he had done.

Rui cried out to Yukina and dived at the cliff edge, reaching over and desperately grabbing at Yukina's outstretched arms. The weight of both Fumio and Yukina pulled Rui's arms and shoulders over the edge and through the bridge, but they stopped there. Fumio was easily managing to hold onto Yukina, but Yukina and Rui were struggling to keep a hold of each other, each gripping their fingers into each others arms tighter and tighter as they began to slowly slip apart.

"Don't let go!" Rui said. "I'll pull you up."

"You're not strong enough to take us both," Fumio pointed out.

"Then you should let go!" she replied.

Yukina yelped in pain and shock as Fumio yanked at the back of her shirt, pulling the neckline against her throat. Her grip faltered and Rui's hands slid up to her wrists before she managed to grip on again.

"I can fix this!" Botan said cheerfully. "I just need to walk out onto the bridge like this…"

She stepped off the edge of the cliff and onto the bridge by Rui.

"And I can – ah!"

Her words broke into a scream as she passed through the bridge just as Fumio, Yukina and Rui had done. She flailed her arms about desperately before managing to catch hold of one of Fumio's legs. When her weight caught on his leg all four were jolted lower, Rui sliding further over the edge, her body doubled over and barely balanced.

"You're too heavy, we're going to fall!" Rui cried.

"Well excuse me!" Botan snapped back indignantly. "I'm no fatter than you, Miss Ice Maiden!"

"Botan, use your oar!" Yukina called down to Botan. "Let go and fly away!"

"Oh, I never thought of that!" Botan said. "Silly me! I was just so surprised when I fell through the bridge, and then I thought I was going to fall into the pit of–"

"Use your oar, Botan!" Yukina snapped.

"Alright, Mister!" Botan snapped back, letting go with one hand to summon her oar. "You're being very rude to me today, you'd better make up for it later."

She let go with her other hand and sat onto her oar, rising up until her face was level with Yukina's.

"And I mean with sex," she said.

Yukina whimpered and shook her head, but Botan merely crossed her arms and pouted in reply.

"I mean it, Mister," she said sternly. "I will – hey!"

Botan was suddenly jerked downwards, her hands grabbing at her oar as she almost slid off of it. Looking down she saw that Fumio had wrapped his Rose Whip around the handle of her oar just above the blade. Without thinking she grabbed at the thorny green vine in the hope of unwrapping it and freeing herself, but her fingers were immediately pierced and lacerated by the thorns, and she retracted her hand with a yelp of dismay. As he was only holding onto Yukina with one hand, Fumio's weight was pulling her shirt tighter against her throat. Her fingers faltered as instinct demanded that she tear the neck of the shirt before it choked her to death; and she lost her grip altogether when her shirt tore slightly at one seam and Fumio gripped his claws into her skin to maintain his grip. One of her hands fell from Rui's, and her remaining hand was barely holding onto her friend's fingers.

"Why are you pulling me down, you idiot?" Botan snapped at Fumio. "We'll all fall into the pit of eternal pain and suffering if you keep this up! I could fly you back up to safety, why are you sabotaging this for all of us?"

"Because I want us all to fall," Fumio replied. "Once we are falling, I can discard of the older ice maiden and you will fly me and Yukina across the chasm to the mountain path on the other side of the pass."

"Absolutely no way!" Botan shouted.

"You're not going to have much choice in the matter," he warned. "I won't let go of you – so either you fly us over there or I drag you down into the pit."

"No!"

Botan tried to fly back up over the cliff edge, but another sharp tug from Fumio left her crying and struggling to hold onto her oar, and the sudden movement made Yukina's lose her grip of Rui's hand. Rui lunged forwards and grabbed Yukina's other hand with her free hand, but in doing so she lost her balance and slipped roughly over the edge. For a brief moment all four fell, Botan being dragged with the other three as she clung onto her oar, which was pulled down with Fumio's Rose Whip, but they all jarred to a halt a split second later. Botan was the first to look up to see why, breaking into a brilliant grin at what she saw.

"George! When did you get here?"

George managed a strained grin for her benefit. He had managed to catch Rui, his arms wrapped around her hips, but it was clear that he was straining at the limit of his physical strength.

"I don't know how long I can hold on like this, Botan," he said. "You have to help me help you."

"That doesn't make any sense," Botan replied. "And some hero you are, asking us for help when we're the ones in dire peril!"

"If you let go of one of my hands, can you reach back to the ogre, Miss Rui?" Yukina asked her friend.

Rui looked back over her shoulder for a moment as she considered the question before nodding as she turned back to Yukina.

"I think so," she said. "But why?"

"He's sweating," Yukina replied. "Freeze him."

"Do what?" George yelped.

"His body is covered in sweat, freeze him to the ground so that he can't move," Yukina insisted. "It will anchor him in place there and secure his hold of you."

"Right, then it will be easier to pull you up!" Rui said. "Good thinking, Yukina!"

Rui let go of one of Yukina's hands and reached back, touching her hand to one of George's biceps. He sobbed in complaint but his tears turned to crystals of ice that fell to the ground and shattered as he was frozen against the flat top of the cliff.

"Now what?" Rui asked Yukina.

"Now you're safe, so let me go," Yukina replied.

"What?" Rui echoed.

"Let me go," Yukina insisted. "I can free Botan as we fall and she can fly back up and help you and the ogre."

"No!"

"For once, I agree with Rui," Fumio said. "And just to make sure you two miserable ice witches don't change your minds, consider this."

Yukina turned her head as Botan screamed out in alarm. Fumio had yanked back on his Rose Whip, tugging Botan's oar further from the cliff. The momentum of the pull sent Botan flying outwards, which Fumio let her do until she once more reached the end of the length of the Rose Whip, at which point he yanked her back. Yukina realised too late what his real intentions were, her entire body going numb as Botan collided with the cliff face, her body going limp. Her oar vanished with a pop and her body slumped and began to fall like a deadweight towards the gaping pit far below them.

When her senses returned to her, Yukina yanked her hand from Rui's hold and she and Fumio began to fall too. She called out to Botan and tried to reach for her, but the distance between them was already insurmountable.

"Idiot!" Fumio cursed her, driving a knee up into her gut.

She groaned and doubled over as the air was driven from her lungs and her body went numb. She vaguely felt Fumio's hands grab at her clothing and her descent halted suddenly. As she fought for breath she looked up to see that he had managed to catch a rock with his Rose Whip, saving himself and her. She shook her head and swung an arm at his weapon, grabbing onto it despite the thorns that bit into her skin, and, in a flash of energy, she froze the length of the plant, which promptly withered and snapped. Fumio cursed her, but she simply glared back at him.

"You'll kill us both!" he shouted at her.

"You'll hurt Rui if I let you save yourself, and you've already sent Botan to a terrible place," she returned. "This is your punishment!"

"You're coming down there with me!" he reminded her. "We'll be stuck there together!"

"I don't care!"

"Then you can die alone!"

Yukina gasped as Fumio appeared to sprout butterfly wings that seemed to make him shoot up into the air – though a quick check of her surroundings told her that he had simply slowed his descent whereas she was still plummeting towards the pit at near terminal velocity. As her surroundings began to darken, Yukina could only think of one thing: if Fumio was free and managed to escape, he could take Rui again.

* * *

Yusuke looked about himself, breathing heavily and wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of one hand. The three SDF officers were crowded around their captain, who looked to have only suffered superficial wounds, Koenma was still standing amongst a clump of trees holding broken off branches in each hand as though he actually thought he might be mistaken for a tree and therefore be safe where he was, Kuwabara had just sat down onto a rock and looked about as tired and confused as Yusuke felt, and Kurama looked quite untidy, from his torn clothes to his blooded face, but the determined and distinctly irked look in his eyes somehow made his other physical detriments pale into insignificance.

Hiei, Botan and Rui had all vanished.

Yusuke could not even remember when they had left, which way they had gone or even if they had left together or separately. Fighting off the demon invaders had not been a challenge in terms of their strength, only in terms of their number: but their apparent leader had been conspicuous by his absence.

"Hey, did anyone see Fabio?" Yusuke called out, looking around the others.

"No," Kuwabara replied. "I think we lost Koenma too."

"Koenma is doing what all children his age do: he's playing make-believe in a special costume," Kurama said flatly. "He's over there pretending to be the prince of spirit world."

"Hey!" Koenma snapped, throwing down the branches.

"Yeah, well, Fabio's not the only one we're missing," Yusuke said. "We lost Botan, Hiei and the ice maiden, too."

"And Yukina," Koenma added.

Yusuke glanced at Kurama, whose face remained disturbingly unchanged, and then Kuwabara, who looked slightly more confused than before.

"So… That's a real thing?" Yusuke asked, turning back to Koenma as he started to venture from his hiding place. "Yukina really did disguise herself as Hiei?"

Koenma glanced about cautiously before hurriedly tip-toeing his way towards Yusuke.

"Yes," he said as he drew closer. "And we left her behind at our campsite this morning. It was definitely her. She couldn't fool me, I saw right through her disguise. Unlike you idiots."

"Shut the hell up!" Yusuke snapped. "Like we were supposed to know that Yukina would do something like that! She's the most boring, plain, simple, weak, submissive, boring–"

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara cut him off.

"Did you know Yukina had a secret fantasy about stuffing socks down her pants and pretending to be Hiei?" Yusuke asked him sarcastically.

"I think there's been a misunderstanding," Kuwabara replied.

"I guess the only way to find out is to go back to the campsite," Yusuke concluded. "If there's a girly-looking Hiei there tied up in Kurama's plant then we'll know it's true. If not, then Hiei's still sick and he needs to get cured already."

"So if that was Yukina with us all this time, where was the real Hiei?" Kuwabara asked. "And where is he now?"

"I suspect the answers to all of our questions are back at our camp site," Kurama suggested.

"Then let's go," Yusuke said. "This has been the dumbest most pointless mission I've ever been on – and that's really saying something considering some of the crap that brat's made me do over the years…"

"Hey!" Koenma yelped.

"Come on tree-boy, let's "leave"," Yusuke said, smirking at Koenma.

"Hey, maybe he's Koenma Hood, Prince of Leaves," Kuwabara added.

"You're not funny," Koenma said flatly. "Either of you."

"Don't worry guys, his bark is worse than his bite," Yusuke said to Kuwabara and Kurama.

"Yeah, underneath that rough exterior, he's a sap," Kuwabara added.

"He's rooted to–"

"Enough."

Yusuke stopped abruptly, surprised to find that it was not Koenma who had interrupted him.

"We've wasted enough time this last week," Kurama continued. "I'm going back to the campsite. Come with me or stay here bickering, either way I don't care."

"Okay, I–"

Yusuke stopped mid-sentence again as Kurama took off in a sprint, leaving them behind.

"Let's go," Yusuke said to Kuwabara.

"Carry me."

Kuwabara turned sharply to Koenma.

"What?" he yelped.

"I can't run as fast as you two can, and I don't want to miss the moment when Kurama and Botan realise there are two Hieis, so one of you had better carry me!" Koenma snapped back.

Kuwabara turned to Yusuke to comment on Koenma's demand, but before he could even draw breath to speak, Yusuke cut him off.

"Sucks to be you," he said quickly, before spinning on his heels and sprinting away, Kuwabara's shouted protest dying on the wind as the distance between them grew.

* * *

Hiei sighed impatiently as he waited, again, for a reply. When none came after several painful seconds of listening to and watching a futile struggle, he tried again.

"What happened here?"

At the sound of his voice, the ice maiden paused long enough to peer fearfully up at him through the ragged strands of hair that had fallen loose by one side of her face before once more trying to wrestle her way out of the grip of the ugly ice sculpture that she had somehow become lodged into, hanging over the edge of a cliff.

"You could make this a lot easier for both of us by just telling me what happened here," Hiei tried.

He recognised the ice maiden's face, but he was not so sure that she remembered him: it was Rui, the same miserable wretch who had cast him out of the ice village in his infancy.

"I don't need your help, but you do need mine," Hiei added. "And I won't help you unless you help me first. So, I'm going to ask you just one more time: what happened here?"

"Don't step out onto the bridge!" she blurted out suddenly.

She pointed a pale, quivering finger outwards from the cliff edge, and Hiei almost wanted to laugh at himself when he found his eyes following the direction of her gesture.

"Hn, I'm not stupid," he scoffed. "I can clearly see that there is no bridge. Is that how you ended up as you are now? You thought there was a bridge?"

Rui blinked owlishly before slowly looking around in the direction she had been pointing. Her head moved slightly as though she was scanning the length of a bridge she thought she could see there before once more turning to face Hiei.

"The-the fake bridge..." she said faintly. "The one only the deceitful can see..."

"Since you won't help me, I won't help you either," Hiei concluded.

"No, please, wait!" Rui cried out as he turned to walk away. "I'm sorry, I was just startled to see you here. I do need help, but more importantly, you have to help Yukina and Botan!"

Hiei turned back at the mention of two names he did at least care about.

"They fell," Rui continued as he faced her once more. "Fumio the fox demon was with them. He pulled them down. Botan tried to rescue us but he knocked her unconscious so that she couldn't use her oar to fly us to safety, and she fell with him and Yukina. I tried to hold on, but... And now I'm stuck..."

Hiei nodded and turned away from Rui again.

"Wait, I want to come with you!" she said. "I want to help!"

Hiei grunted out exactly how helpful he thought she could be, which, he was glad to find, left her speechless. She had gotten herself into the strange position she was in, she could get herself out of it, he decided. It was about time the ice maidens start learning to think for and stand up for themselves, he thought. And, with that thought absolving him of any sense of obligation to Rui, Hiei ran on along the rough path that ran parallel to the cliff-edge. The path was a little unkempt as though it was rarely used – though if Rui's comment about an imaginary bridge was any indication, apparently most who approached the cliff edge had been stupid enough to walk straight off of it – and the uneven ground was slowing him slightly as he ran. But Hiei did not get far before he was forced to stumble awkwardly to an abrupt halt as something dropped onto the path ahead of him.

"Where did you fly in from?" Hiei grumbled, glancing about the sky suspiciously.

"Never mind about that," Kurama quietly replied. "Where are you going now?"

"Never mind about that," Hiei said, lowering his head to look directly at Kurama again. "Just get out of my way."

"Let's deal with Fumio first," Kurama suggested. "And then you and I can settle our differences."

"There's nothing for you and I to settle," Hiei replied. "And Fumio is mine."

"We need to work together on this."

"I don't need your help to beat him."

"Navigating around this realm isn't simple: what if you encounter a gate or test you cannot pass?"

"Then I'll do to it what I will do to you if you don't get out of my way: I'll burn it down."

"This isn't the time for fighting amongst ourselves."

"I don't intend to fight you. I intend to get past you."

"I'm not moving until you agree to work with me."

"Then you leave me no choice."

Hiei whipped out his sword, grimacing as Kurama responded by drawing out his Rose Whip, the look of determination in his eyes never faltering.

* * *

Botan awoke to the sound of a scream, and only when it sounded again did she realise that she was the one making the noise. She quickly got to her feet, her head throbbing in complaint. She touched a hand to the point of pain, feeling a slight swelling on one side of her head. Once the dizzying sensation had passed, she looked about herself curiously, but saw nothing but darkness. The ground beneath her was bare rock, barely lit by the distant light far above her head from the entrance to the apparently unreasonably deep pit she was now at the bottom of.

"Well this is a bit of a pickle, isn't it?" she muttered, dusting dirt from her clothing absent-mindedly.

"Keep your voice down."

"Why, are you afraid of the dark?" Botan sarcastically replied.

"I think they're asleep, we don't want to wake them."

"It's so dark in here, I feel like sleeping myself. How did I even... Wait..."

Botan paused long enough to let herself remember how she had come to be where she was: the last thing she could clearly remember was Hiei, a fox demon who looked like Kurama and Rui all hanging off the edge of a cliff, and the fox demon attacking her oar with his Rose Whip, almost pulling it from her grasp entirely. She winced as she remembered being flung towards the stony cliff-face, her mind then piecing the rest of the puzzle together: clearly she had fallen unconscious after hitting the rocks, her oar must have then disappeared, and she herself must have fallen to the foot of the Cliff of Honesty – and into the place of eternal pain and suffering.

"Oh my!" she gasped.

"Sh!"

"We have to get out of here!" Botan said urgently.

"We're not alone in here. There are strange things in here with us. I haven't seen them, but I can hear them. I think they're asleep. Maybe if we keep quiet, they'll stay asleep, and we can escape."

Botan frowned curiously, almost glad of the distraction she was confronted with.

"Yukina?" she muttered. "When did you get here?"

"About three seconds after you," Yukina replied. "I tried to take Fumio with me, but he used some sort of trick to escape falling into this pit."

"I can't see you! Where are you?"

"Right beside you."

"But I can't see you!"

"It's too dark."

"I have a flashlight–"

"Don't use a light in here! We just need to get out! Can you fly us out of here?"

"Ooh, good idea Yukina! Let me just get changed into the correct outfit for escaping a dark, monster-infested pit of eternal pain and suffering–"

"Just get your oar and get us out of here, Botan!"

"Well, there's no need to get all snappy! You almost sound as abrupt and rude as your brother!"

"Now, Botan!"

Botan yelped indignantly but did as Yukina asked and summoned her oar. She sat onto it and promptly felt a weight drop on at her side. Without even bothering to check that it was Yukina, she started to ascend towards the light.

"Faster, Botan," Yukina said.

"You know Yukina, I think maybe you're learning some of your brother's bad habits," Botan snootily replied.

"Go faster, Botan!" Yukina urged.

Botan turned her head to admonish Yukina directly, but before her eyes reached her passenger, they caught a glimpse of something else: something large and fearsome, rising up after them from the depths of the darkness.

Botan abruptly turned towards the light again and focused all of her energy into speeding their ascent: though she was almost certain she could not out-run the Apepi.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Yusuke, Kuwabara and Koenma become caught up and slowed down when they set about freeing Rui and George, and Hiei and Kurama become a little too distracted settling their dispute with each other, leaving it up to Yukina and Botan to save spirit world: but they're no longer up against just Fumio, as their escape from the pit of eternal pain and suffering leads to them releasing the Apepi into the open. **Chapter 31 – Twin Nightmare**

 **NB:** I'm confusing my religions here, because Apepi is the Egytpian god of chaos, but I was drawing a blank trying to find a suitable equivalent in Buddhism. This chapter, I am mostly failing at research…


	31. Twin Nightmare

**A/N:** Frottage is easily one of my favourite words in the English language. The meaning is semi-amusing, semi-creepy, but mostly the word sounds fantastic. Try saying it out loud. Just, y'know, don't say it out loud where anyone might hear you!

Botan recites "To a Kiss" by Robert Burns (because Scottish poetry so has a place in a fic set in Japan… But seriously, how could I resist? The wording is just so appropriate!)

Also, this chapter is about 3000 words longer than I thought it would be. But I wanted to get to a certain point in the plot in this chapter, so here it is.

* * *

 **Chapter 31: Twin Nightmare**

Yukina forgot how to breathe as she watched the scene unfolding behind her. The lush, bountiful pastures of spirit world were rapidly being reduced to a trench of rubble, the resulting earthquakes uprooting plants and causing landslides in the rocky hills. The Apepi's head and throat had barely cleared the ground, but already it was almost as high as Yukina's feet, dangling helplessly from Botan's oar. In the once pleasantly bright light of spirit world no feature of the beast was hidden, and, unfortunately, it was even more fearsome to behold than the image Yukina's panicked imagination had painted when she had still been in the darkened depths of the pit the monster had originated from. The beast was covered in glistening, deep blue-grey scales, its eyes were wide and almost hypnotically beautiful, their pale blue irises looking crystalline set against the dark of the scales around them. Its head was the shape of a snake's, and that was what Yukina had assumed the monster was: just a giant snake.

But then the Apepi rose a little higher out of the ground, two short, skinny arms emerging from the dirt, each ended with three-fingered hands bearing claws that were each longer than Botan's oar.

"Maybe you should fly a little higher," Yukina suggested, inwardly hoping that her voice had not sounded as small and insignificant to Botan as it had to her own ears.

"It's okay, I know how to fix this!" Botan replied, yelling her answer to ensure her voice would carry back to Yukina as she had to keep her face forward as she guided her oar on.

"Y-you do?" Yukina asked.

"Yes, don't worry! We just have to find Hiei!"

"Hiei?"

"Yes! He controls the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, and that's the only thing that can stop the Apepi!"

Yukina gulped apprehensively at both the argument Botan had just presented and the sight of the monster rising ever higher out of the ground it was tearing open below and behind them.

"Isn't that a very bad idea?" she asked once she had found her voice again. "As vile as this creature seems, doesn't it serve a vital purpose here in spirit world? Isn't erasing it from existence a really bad idea?"

"No, you've got it all wrong!" Botan answered, her tone still far too relaxed and controlled for Yukina's liking. "The Apepi is the keeper of the gateway of chaos: and chaos is the place the Dragon of the Darkness Flame sends its victims. If the dragon catches the Apepi, it will just send it back home."

"Oh. Well, that's very… Simple…"

Yukina started to relax, but her respite was short-lived as the trench the Apepi was creating suddenly widened drastically, creating more violent earthquakes and causing an entire hill to collapse: and the cause of the disruption quickly became evident as two arcing appendages began emerging from the ground on either side of the beast's torso.

"Fly higher," Yukina muttered.

"What was that?" Botan echoed.

"Fly higher, Botan!" Yukina screamed, her fists tightening around the oar on instinct.

"It's alright, it can't catch us up here," Botan assured her. "It's a snake. Snake's can't fly."

Yukina tried to correct Botan, tried to tell the ferry girl that, as she had spoken those every words, the tips of their pursuer's wings had already broken free from the ground far below them; but long before Yukina found the strength or sense to voice her concerns, a series of devastating things happened. Firstly the Apepi's wings erupted from the ground and rose up in the air, the tips passing high over the top of Botan and Yukina, casting them into shadow, and then subconscious instinct betrayed Yukina as her hands, still gripped around Botan's oar, shot out a burst of demon energy, freezing the wooden oar, which gave only a small crackle and creak of warning before it splintered and burst apart beneath them, leaving Botan and Yukina hurtling through the air, screaming for their lives.

Yukina's descent was mercifully short, though her landing was painful and left her winded. Lying on her chest, her limbs sprawled ungraciously at her sides, she moved her eyes around until she had confirmed what she had already suspected was the case: she had landed on the Apepi's back, just above the base of its wings. She watched in a state of bemusement as her eyes finally located Botan, clinging to an enormous leathery feather of the Apepi's wing, her screams fading in and out of range as the beast began making slow sweeps of its wings, dragging Botan up and down by almost a hundred feet at as time. As Yukina's initial daze began to pass she forced herself up onto all fours just in time to scramble out of the way as Botan slid from the Apepi's wing and landed beside her.

Yukina attempted a smile as their eyes met, silently wondering why Botan was smiling brilliantly, her eyes glistened with tears – was she deliriously happy, or just simply delirious?

"Oh Hiei, you came to rescue me!" she gushed.

"…No…" Yukina muttered hopelessly.

"Oh Hiei, I love you!"

Yukina groaned miserably as Botan pounced at her, flattening her against the scaly Apepi's back in a crushing embrace.

* * *

Hiei spat out a mouthful of fragrant petals, fighting back the urge to wretch from the perfumed taste that lingered on his tongue.

"You're not fighting to the fullest of your abilities," he said, before dragging his tongue along one arm in the hope of removing the awful taste.

"I'm not sure that I can," Kurama replied, lifting his fingers slighting and peering at the bloody wound his hand was pressed against by his shoulder. "I could have fought you with everything I had when I thought you had betrayed my trust by seducing both me and the woman I wanted, but now that I know that was not the case, and now that I see I was starting to desire the sister you are so protective of–"

"You're a fox demon!" Hiei interrupted. "You said your clan hunted ice maidens for sex!"

Hiei pointed his sword at Kurama, but Kurama knew that it was not a violent gesture.

"I had never thought of her that way before Hiei," Kurama said quietly.

"Never?" Hiei asked, slowly lowering his sword despite the darkening look in his eyes.

"Well, only when I found those flowers growing in the temple gardens – but not even then!" Kurama shakily replied. "Even then it was about the smell and never about her. She's… She's just a child."

"You think I'm just a child?" Hiei asked.

"Compared to me you are," Kurama flatly replied. "And her more so, due to her sheltered upbringing."

"I tolerated Kuwabara courting her because I knew he would never take it beyond silly, affectionate words and the occasional awkward act of inadvertent frottage, but you are quite different."

Hiei pointed his sword at Kurama again, but again Kurama felt confident that the gesture was non-threatening.

"Maybe before, maybe if you had remained as you were when we first met, I could have tolerated you sniffing around the hems of my sister's skirt," Hiei growled. "But now things are quite different."

"When we first met?" Kurama repeated.

There was a brief silence between the two, during which Kurama found himself once more replaying that strange period of time after his initial meeting with Hiei when he had been aware of the curious little fire demon secretly stalking him.

"Yes," Hiei eventually said. "Back when you were still more than ninety percent human. Back when you were just an adolescent boy with freckles, a shallow attraction to a homely schoolgirl and a penchant for ikebana."

Kurama swallowed down the niggling sense of humiliation threatening to surface: Hiei had even been watching him when he was attending ikebana classes?

"But then you changed," Hiei continued. "For the better, I thought. You tapped into more of your demon roots, you embraced your true self, you accepted that your time in living world as a human was finite, you unlocked more and more of the cunning and aggression that had once made you a legend in demon world."

Kurama gave a small nod to indicate that he understood Hiei's point.

"And your voice finally broke," Hiei added.

Kurama's face dropped.

"Though after a day in the sun, I can still see your freckles."

Kurama shifted his weight, trying to stay focused despite the odd tangent Hiei was steering the conversation along.

"But you're an adult human now and you've reverted back to more than one of your old demon instincts," Hiei continued. "How do I know that raping ice maidens isn't one of the dark habits you've reacquired as part of the evolution you've undergone?"

"Hiei, I can't deny that the desire surfaced when I first visited Arbeinia at the start of our mission," Kurama carefully replied. "But I can tell you that I consciously fought it off. It's a powerful desire, but it hasn't overcome me. And I respect Yukina, as your sister and as an ally, and if I did ever lose control of my urges, I would take myself as far away from her as I possibly could."

Hiei nodded and returned his sword to its scabbard at his hip.

"That was all I needed to hear," he said.

Kurama twitched involuntarily, and his action did not go unnoticed by the ever-vigilant Hiei.

"What?" Hiei asked quietly.

"I'm not sure that we have an understanding just yet," Kurama reluctantly admitted.

"But we do," Hiei insisted. "You just said that you will keep your urges as far away from my sister as possible. I will never forget what has transpired between you and Yukina during these last few days, but I can forgive it if you remain true to your word and keep away from her from now on. Isn't that what you're always telling me that "friendship" is all about? Forgiveness?"

Kurama sighed heavily.

"Impetuous and presumptuous as ever Hiei, you have completely misinterpreted what I said," he said.

"I don't see how," Hiei replied, his voice clipped and tense, his eyes regaining a little of the murderous fervour that had coloured them during their brief and awkward skirmish. "You promised to stay away from my sister. Or did you forget that already?"

"I promised to never treat her the way many of my kind have treated her clan in the past," Kurama pointed out. "I never promised to stay away from her entirely."

"I see," Hiei said quietly. "Well then you had best correct your promise right now."

"I'm no more obliged to make promises to you than you are to me," Kurama replied. "And no less likely to keep them: you went after Botan despite knowing that I desired her for myself."

"I had no idea you wanted the ferry girl. And for the record, she's very loud and showy in company, and incredibly demanding and wild in the bedroom. She needs to be kept in line to get the best of her, and you, with your flowers and your pretty hair, aren't up to the task. Also you covet your privacy so greatly, it would destroy you to lay down with a woman who consequently asked your mentor for advice on how best to please you sexually."

Kurama's face twisted in horror as Hiei gave a small shudder.

"I did you a favour," Hiei continued, quickly obscuring his brief moment of weakness behind a mask of impassiveness. "Botan would have ruined you, and you would have suffered every time you saw her face for another stupid mission or party. You have no reason to resent me. Nothing had occurred between the two of you, she didn't want you, and you would have ultimately been disappointed if you had managed to seduce her. I, on the other hand, have ample reason for my ire: you, a fox demon, molested my virginal sister, an ice maiden, and, to deepen the insult, you did it under the belief that she was me."

Kurama rubbed a hand at the back of his neck, not immediately realising why his action caused Hiei to reach for his sword. Kurama quickly held up his hands to indicate that he had not drawn a weapon and that he did not intend to fight.

"I'm not attracted to you, Hiei," he explained carefully. "I just found myself becoming attracted to what you had become."

Hiei narrowed his eyes and his hand remained on the hilt of his sword.

"That isn't any better," he said.

"I know," Kurama replied. "But I want to be clear that I have no romantic inclination towards you."

"The feeling is mutual," Hiei quietly replied.

"Then all that remains is for me to ask that, if you are to continue your affair with Botan, you will at least keep it respectful in my presence."

"That won't be a problem."

"Thank you."

Hiei growled and Kurama arched his eyebrows in surprise.

"Did you see what I did there?" Hiei snapped. "Did you see how I gave you my promise when you asked for it?"

"Yes, I noticed that," Kurama smoothly replied. "I am glad our friendship will survive this little trial of–"

"I'm waiting for you to return the favour, Kurama!"

"Excuse me?"

"I promised you I wouldn't subject you to the finer points of my dealings with Botan and now I'm waiting for you to promise me you'll stay away from Yukina!"

Kurama froze and Hiei growled again.

"I can't make a promise like that," Kurama eventually said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Other than missions and those stupid parties Yusuke invites us to, you are not to go near Yukina, understand?" Hiei pressed.

"It's more than that," Kurama said, his voice still faint, his words almost carried away on a light breeze that played through his slightly ruffled hair as he spoke,

"What are you saying?" Hiei asked.

"I can't just pretend the last several days didn't happen, Hiei, and I doubt Yukina can either. She and I have a lot to talk about."

"There's nothing to discuss."

"I disagree."

"The only thing you need to discuss with Yukina regards you telling her that she has been confused, and that you can never return her naïve and misinformed feelings!"

Kurama met Hiei's eyes and for a long time the two simply stared at each other, one teetering on the edge of rage, the other concerned but stubbornly determined. The silence eventually ended when Kurama spoke.

"After everything Yukina has said and done on this mission, I can't just walk away. I need to make my position perfectly clear to her and I need to know that she understands."

* * *

"This could work," Koenma said through a grin. "You could be like a stone gargoyle, only made out of ice."

"Sir, please!" George wailed. "Have mercy!"

"We can't leave him like that!" Kuwabara protested.

"Oh, thank you!" George sobbed, peering up at Kuwabara gratefully.

"We have to free that poor lady at least!" Kuwabara added.

"And the poor ogre too, right?" George said.

"Hey lady, we're looking for a fox, an angry midget, a loud-mouthed ferry girl, a hair model and a cross-dresser," Yusuke addressed Rui. "You seen them around here?"

"Pardon?" Rui echoed.

"We're looking for the fox demon Fumio, the fire demon Hiei, one of my ferry girls, a human boy with long red hair and an ice maiden disguised as Hiei," Koenma explained.

"We have to help the poor lady," Kuwabara pressed.

"Yukina fell!" Rui said to Koenma. "And Botan too! Fumio, the fox demon, pulled them down!"

"What about Kurama and Hiei?" Yusuke asked.

"Hiei passed this way alone," Rui replied. "He went that way."

Yusuke and Koenma looked in the direction Rui was pointing, each reacting differently to what they saw.

"Hey, what's with all those weird plants down there?" Yusuke asked, craning his neck to squint at the cluster of moving vegetation further down the path. "That looks like something Kurama would do. Or maybe Fabio…"

"What happened to the Meadows of the Meek?" Koenma roared.

"The what?" Kuwabara asked, frowning in confusion. "I don't see any meadows. All I see is a bunch of rubble and a big long hole in the ground."

"That's what I'm talking about, you pig-nosed idiot!" Koenma yelled, rounding on Kuwabara,

"Gees, keep your diaper on…" Kuwabara grumbled.

"The hell is that thing?" Yusuke asked.

The others all turned their heads in the direction Yusuke was pointing, watching in varying states of fear and confusion as a giant winged serpent danced through the skies along the horizon.

"The Ap…" Koenma said faintly, dropping his eyes down over the cliff edge ahead of him, almost stumbling over the steep drop as he looked into the seemingly bottomless pit far below him.

"Is that Hiei's dragon?" Yusuke asked.

"Oh hey, you don't think Hiei and Kurama had a fight to the death, do you?" Kuwabara asked. "Maybe those plants ate Hiei just after he let the dragon go, and then the dragon ate Kurama and now it's wandering about with no place to go…"

"That's not the Dragon of the Darkness Flame," Koenma said quietly.

"It's not?" Yusuke asked.

"Sure looks like it," Kuwabara added.

"No, that's one of the monsters from the pit of eternal pain and suffering," Koenma said. "It's also the bringer of chaos. My father is going to kill me."

"The bringer of chaos?" Kuwabara repeated, his voice cracking slightly as panic began to set in. "From the pit of eternal pain and suffering?"

"Well that's a relief," Yusuke said sarcastically. "Here I was thinking it was a bad thing."

"We have to get out of here," Koenma said, dropping to his knees by George's side.

"Oh Sir, I knew you wouldn't leave me here!" George said cheerfully.

"Help me free Rui," Koenma said to Yusuke.

"Right," Yusuke agreed.

George sighed forlornly, but nobody noticed, as the slithering silhouette in the distant sky was proving to be too much of a distraction.

* * *

Hiei stopped as he reached the darkened patch of ground cast into shadow by the giant monster hovering in the sky. He had just enough time to calculate that the beast was almost three times the size of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, that it was easily as dangerous as the dragon and to decide that it was clearly something truly terrible before Kurama staggered to a halt at his side, breathless and sweating, his hair plastered to the sides of his face in a most unflattering manner.

"What is that thing?" Kurama asked.

Hiei gave him a flat look.

"I thought you might know," Kurama added quietly.

"It looks like one of the legendary ancients from demon world," Hiei said.

"Of course," Kurama agreed. "I had heard that spirit world captured all of the ancient monsters of demon world many millennia ago, but I had dismissed such tales as simple campfire banter."

"I might be able to take it down," Hiei said, touching a hand to his bandaged arm.

"You don't know what could happen if you even tried that."

"Do you have any better suggestions?"

Kurama looked about himself, his eyes pausing on rocks, ravines and a waterfall, but Hiei was rapidly losing patience waiting for him to formulate a plan.

"There is no other way," he insisted.

"We shouldn't just attack it without at least consulting with Koenma," Kurama argued.

"Hn, I don't need that brat's permission for anything," Hiei scoffed. "And besides, I'm doing this to save his home, he should just shut-up and be grateful."

"Wait!"

Kurama grabbed Hiei's hand as he tugged loose the bandaging around his right arm.

"What now?" Hiei snapped irritably.

"Isn't that Botan up there?" Kurama replied, pointing up towards the flying snake monster.

Hiei looked up, but saw no sign of the ferry girl. Deciding to give Kurama the benefit of the doubt, he removed his bandana and sought out Botan with his Jagan eye: a move that left him swimming in ambivalence.

"What did you see?" Kurama asked Hiei as he closed his Jagan eye.

"Botan is up there," Hiei flatly replied.

"I thought I saw her," Kurama said. "What is she doing on that monster's back? Is it possible she has found a way to control it?"

"Yukina's up there too."

"Maybe as a resident of spirit world Botan knows a way to – wait, what?"

"Botan and Yukina are both up there. On the back of the snake. And they're panicking."

Kurama glared up at the slithering shape blocking out the light above them.

"How do we get them down?" Hiei asked.

Kurama turned to him upon his question.

"We need to get them clear of that thing before I can attack it," Hiei explained. "So how do we get them down?"

"We don't know that they didn't choose to be up there," Kurama pointed out. "Botan is a resident of spirit world and one of Koenma's most trusted aides: maybe she can control the monster. Maybe she's trying to guide it away from us."

Hiei gave Kurama a withering look.

"You really don't know Botan at all, do you?" he muttered darkly.

"Not as intimately as you do, no," Kurama tightly answered him.

"I haven't forgotten that you haven't promised to keep your furry fox paws off my sister yet," Hiei warned.

"I didn't say that you should forget," Kurama replied.

"You didn't have to. I know you. This is the game you play: you use clever words and little distraction techniques to make me forget so that you get out of having to give me a direct answer."

Kurama glanced up at the dark serpent overhead.

"You're right," he conceded. "We should consider that neither Yukina nor Botan intended to place themselves on or near that monster. We should work out a way to get them safely clear of it before we take any further action."

"There, see?" Hiei sneered. "You just did it again. More distractions."

"Hiei, their lives could be in danger," Kurama shot back. "One is your sister and the other is your lover. Don't you care?"

"Now you're trying to break my concentration. I know your tricks."

"Hiei!"

Hiei growled and clenched his fists at his side, but said no more on the matter, instead turning his attention towards the beast again.

"We need to find a way to communicate with Botan," Kurama suggested. "She could fly free of the monster on her oar."

Three seconds after Kurama had finished speaking something hit the ground between him and Hiei, embedding itself into the earth. Hiei crouched down and levered the object out, holding it up to reveal a triangular section of wood, splintered along the longer side and smoothed and rounded along the other two.

"Is that…?" Kurama asked.

"Part of her oar, yes," Hiei replied.

Kurama nodded and Hiei flung aside the redundant shard of wood.

"They can't come down to us," Hiei concluded. "We have to get up there to them. Can't you plant something that can take us up there?"

"I can plant something that can take us up to about that height, but we're facing a moving target," Kurama replied through a sigh. "I don't possess a plant that can grow that high and still be able to manoeuvre us around if we need to chase after that thing once we get up there."

Hiei snarled out a few choice curse words of frustration, his tone and word choice changing – though his language becoming no less vulgar – as Koenma dropped down beside them, seemingly from nowhere.

"I'm going to pretend you just said "worthless runt", Hiei," he said, narrowing his eyes at Hiei.

"Well clean your damn ears out," Hiei snapped back. "Because I just called you a worthless–"

"Koenma," Kurama hurriedly cut Hiei off. "Is that one of the ancients from demon world?"

"Yes it is," Koenma confirmed, taking a subtle, sliding step away from Hiei. "But the good news is that we can easily banish it, with Hiei's help. That is the Apepi, it resides at the gateway to the same place the Dragon of the Darkness Flame sends its victims. If Hiei uses his dragon on the Apepi, he will send it back where it belongs. It won't surface again. It only leaves that place if it's directly provoked."

"Directly provoked?" Kurama asked.

Koenma lowered his head slightly and took on a more solemn expression.

"Yes, unfortunately it seems the Apepi was disturbed by three souls falling into the pit it resides in," he said quietly. "Fortunately, one of those souls was Fumio, the fox demon who has been causing us so many problems. Unfortunately the other two souls were Botan and Yukina."

"I told you she wasn't controlling that thing," Hiei said, giving Kurama a dark look.

"Was Fumio up there with them too?" Kurama asked him, ignoring the vaguely smug look on the fire demon's face.

"No," Hiei replied.

"Did either of you hear what I just said?" Koenma asked.

"Yes we did," Kurama replied loudly, almost completely blocking out Hiei's less than flattering reply. "But it seems Botan and Yukina have managed to escape the dark place that monster came from. They are on the back of the Apepi."

Koenma's head snapped up, his eyes doubling in size as he watched the giant snake writhe about in the air far above them.

"And it seems Botan's oar is broken," Kurama added. "We can't attack whilst Botan and Yukina are still up there."

"Right," Koenma agreed. "Though I don't really understand how they got up there in the first place…"

"Figure out a way to get them down or get out of my way!" Hiei snapped at him.

"I could fly up there," Koenma said.

Kurama tensed slightly.

"What?" Koenma asked.

"Why did you say it like that?" Kurama asked. "Why did you put so much emphasis on the word "could"?"

"I have the ability to get up there," Koenma replied. "Just not the…"

"Balls?" Hiei offered.

Kurama nodded.

"Then give me your flying device and I will go up there," he said. "Hiei can wait here, and as soon as I am free of the beast with Botan and Yukina, he can attack."

Koenma muttered something, but dismissed both Kurama and Hiei when they asked him to repeat himself. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned a hovering cloud, throwing a nervous grin over his shoulder at Kurama.

"I use this to travel around spirit world," he explained. "It's fast and nimble, and it's controlled telepathically."

"Alright, I understand," Kurama replied. "Hiei, as soon as you see that I have taken Botan and Yukina far enough from the Apepi to allow you a clear shot, do not hesitate to att-ah!"

Kurama yelped and then grunted as his attempt to leap onto Koenma's cloud failed, and he found himself passing straight through it and consequently landing on the ground below awkwardly on one knee. Hiei snorted in amusement as Kurama glared up at Koenma questioningly.

"You can't ride it unless you're pure of thought and soul," Koenma said quietly.

"Isn't that another universe?" Hiei asked. "A nimble cloud that only lets goody-goody types ride it – that's not part of this universe, is it?"

"I just told you it is," Koenma replied.

"You couldn't have told me that before I jumped onto it?" Kurama said tersely as he stood up and began brushing the dirt from his clothing.

"I thought if I told you only I could ride it you'd make me fly up there with you," Koenma replied.

"Good idea," Kurama growled. "You get on the cloud and I'll climb on the your back."

Koenma laughed nervously.

"You're not serious, of course!" he said, his voice a pitch higher as he began to sweat.

"I absolutely am," Kurama warned him in a low voice.

Koenma glanced back and forth between Kurama and Hiei before sighing, slouching his shoulders and then reluctantly clambering back onto the cloud. Kurama promptly leapt up behind him, grabbing onto Koenma's shoulders to steady himself. Koenma started to complain about the strength of Kurama's grip and suggest that there ought to be another way, but Kurama cut him off with a sharp order to make the cloud move and so he grudgingly obliged, levitating them both into the air, leaving Hiei behind, poised and ready to attack when the time was right.

* * *

"I don't want to die!" Botan wailed.

"We're not going to die, Botan," Yukina assured her.

"But if I do have to die, I want you to know that I'm happy that I died in your arms, Hiei!" Botan added.

Yukina groaned but decided against trying to correct Botan: after all, their situation did look increasingly bleak, and so she thought the best thing for Botan would be if she continued pretending to be Hiei. And so Yukina put her arms around Botan's shoulders and held her closer. The two of them were knelt in a ridge between the Apepi's two wings, in what felt like the space between two vertebrae. It was the only place they had managed to reach where they were not constantly thrown about as the monster slithered up and down and side to side through the skies. Yukina did not know how long they could stay where they were: she supposed it depended on how long the Apepi could remain airborne, and where it might take them.

She allowed herself a small, wry smile as she considered how ridiculous her situation was. Tsubara had always warned her against seeking out adventure, and the decrepit old witch had been right. Yukina wondered when would have been the right time to stop what she was doing, to have confessed the truth and backed out. It was a thought that had played through her mind almost constantly since Kurama had kissed her the night before, but every time she considered it, she always came back to the same conclusion: she never should have disguised herself as Hiei in the first place.

Maybe she would die where she was. She was not so sure that Botan would (or even could) die, but she was growing increasingly pessimistic about her own fate. She wondered if the gamble she had taken was worth losing her life for. It had not been an entirely bad or unsuccessful endeavour, after all. She had managed to prove to Kuwabara that she was not as defenceless as he had always thought she was and she had managed to spend a lot of time with Kurama – something that would have never happened under any other circumstances.

And, most amazing of all in Yukina's mind, Kurama had actually kissed her.

"Do you remember the first time we kissed?"

"Yes."

"We were all at Genkai's temple for Yukina's birthday. You were watching through a window. I only knew you were there because Kurama told me so. I realised that if it was Yukina's birthday then it must have been your birthday too, so I took a piece of cake to you. I said you could only have it if you ate it out of my mouth. And you did. It was wonderful."

"Yes it was."

"Do you remember what you said next?"

"Huh, of course I do you frivolous woman."

"You said "a kiss is the upper persuasion for a lower invasion". You said if I was instigating a kiss, I was basically just asking you for sex. You said that was the law in demon world."

Yukina froze on the spot, not even so much and breathing or blinking.

"I suppose you were right," Botan continued with a sigh. "I was using my kiss to try to persuade you to invade me. And it wasn't long before you did!"

Yukina made an involuntary squeak of horror.

"I like some of your demon world laws," Botan added. "Especially that one, because it brought us together. And it rhymed!"

"D-demon world l-law?" Yukina eventually managed to choke out.

"I imagine demon world must be quite a chaotic place with such a law," Botan replied. "Always having to make love to someone you kiss."

"It's not an actual law though," Yukina hurriedly corrected her. "It can't be! Who would enforce it? And how? And there aren't any laws in demon world! At least, not laws like that there aren't!"

"Oh. Oh, yes, sorry, I forgot! It's not a demon world law, is it? It's just the code the bandits of demon world adhere to."

"…Bandits…?"

"Tell me some more of the rhyming laws your band of thieves swore to. I like hearing you say them."

"You're not making me feel any better."

"Hearing them will make me feel better."

"Then why don't you tell me what they are?"

"I can't remember any of them."

"Than make some up yourself."

"I could recite my favourite poem about kissing for you. It's from human world, and it's a little more chivalrous than your demon world lyric."

"Just start the stupid poem already, you irksome woman!"

"Alright. Humid seal of soft affections, tenderest pledge of future bliss."

"Unf."

"Dearest tie of young connections, love's first snow-drop virgin kiss."

"Wait, what?"

"Speaking silence dumb confession, passion's birth and infants' play, dove-like fondness chaste concession–"

"I don't like this poem."

"It's not as succinct as yours about persuasions and lower invasions."

"I don't like that one either."

"Oh my, what's that up there?"

Yukina sighed audibly in relief as Botan pointed up at something above them, glad of the distraction it provided Botan from her poetry and Yukina herself from her own conflicting thoughts.

"Goodness, it's Lord Koenma!" Botan gasped.

"And Kurama," Yukina added as she finally sighted what had caught Botan's attention.

An instant after she had locked onto the image of two figures on a cloud being blasted about in the up-draught of the Apepi's wings, Yukina saw Kurama take a potentially suicidal leap towards them. She held her breath as he fell through the air, only allowing herself to sigh out the air that had been burning in her lungs when Kurama's feet landed safely on the scaly back of the Apepi a few feet away from her. She gasped again as she noticed that he was showing a few signs of having been in a difficult fight, most noticeably a gash in his upper left arm.

Yukina started to untangle herself from Botan, started to stand, preparing herself to hurry over to Kurama and offer to heal his wound; but she stopped short when he lifted his head and she saw the look on his face. Yukina had never seen Kurama look quite so dark, angered and intimidating as he did right then, and she was certain that his ire was directed at her, even though he did not look directly at her. He shortly began to move, quickly and carefully closing the gap between them, his eyes moving to Botan.

"We have to get out of here as quickly as possible," he said, his tone only slightly deeper and rougher than its usual, carefully controlled pitch.

"But how?" Botan asked him. "My oar was broken somehow!"

Kurama gave a small movement of one hand and he appeared to sprout giant wings, the suddenness of his action causing both Botan and Yukina to yelp in surprise and grip onto each other tighter.

"You can fly?" Botan asked.

"No," Kurama replied. "But I can fall with style."

Yukina was unsure if Kurama had intended his remark as a joke or not, but as neither he nor Botan laughed she chose not to respond just in case she offended him. Presumably he was just using the same demon plant she had seen Fumio use to save himself from falling into the pit she and Botan had met the Apepi in – though judging by Botan's reaction, she had either not seen Fumio use the plant or else she had forgotten in her current state of panicked confusion.

Kurama held out a hand towards Botan, who took it, releasing her hold of Yukina entirely and allowing him to pull her to her feet.

"Hold onto me carefully, it will be rough until we escape the violent currents in the air the Apepi's wings are creating," he advised.

Botan nodded and put her arms around his shoulders. He put one arm around her waist and with his other hand he threw one of the trailing strands from the plant on his back towards Yukina.

"Take hold of that," he said, looking down at her in a way that made her wish he had simply rescued Botan and left her behind. "Be sure to get a good hold, or you will fall."

Yukina slowly picked up the proffered strand, which was as thick as rope, wrapping it around one of her hands and grabbing onto it with the other, her eyes never leaving Kurama as she did so.

"Is that secure?" Botan asked, peering down at Yukina through a frown. "It seems dangerous."

"This is a very dangerous situation," Kurama replied, his voice and expression darkening, his eyes still on Yukina as he spoke. "This is not some sort of game."

Yukina rose to her feet, but lowered her head to avoid having to look directly at Kurama. Instead she obediently followed as he took a few steps forward over the base of the Apepi's wing, and she was then quickly robbed of her own feelings of self-pity as Kurama leapt forwards and she was tugged after him, into a violent torrent of crosswinds. For what felt like several minutes – though she later realised was probably only a matter of seconds – she was violently whipped back and forth in the air, the strain on her hands so great that she thought they would be torn from her arms. Then, as quickly as the struggle had begun, Yukina heard a series of creaking sounds before suddenly the pressure on her hands, wrists and arms vanished, and she found herself plummeting through the air for the second time that day.

Yukina's first thought was that, in her panic, she had done to the plant on Kurama's back what she had done to Botan's oar: but a quick visual check showed Kurama and Botan still gliding safely downwards at a controlled pace. However, sighting Kurama and Botan brought two jarring thoughts to the front of Yukina's mind: first of all, Kurama was holding Botan very tenderly, and secondly, she was falling away from them at a shocking rate, and as such her fall would undoubtedly end badly.

And, mere seconds after those thoughts had occurred to her, Yukina landed. Her landing robbed the air from her body and left her feeling light-headed and on the point of passing out, but her landing had at least been cushioned. Turning her head she saw why.

"Sorry Miss," George greeted her as their eyes met. "I tried to catch you, but you were falling so fast you took me off my feet!"

Yukina rolled off of the ogre, struggling against her own dizziness to check him for any wounds she could heal.

"Get back down!" a voice barked at her.

She yelped and flattened herself to the ground at George's side, peering back at the source of the voice in time to see Hiei unleashing the Dragon of the Darkness Flame at the Apepi. In the chaos of black flame and blinding flashes of light that followed, it was impossible for her to tell where Kurama and Botan were and if they were safe – but she trusted that Hiei would not have launched his attack otherwise. In the sky, the two monsters collided, and the backdraft of their conflict reached all the way down to where Yukina lay, creating a dust storm of rubble around her. She choked and blinked against the grains of dirt invading her mouth and eyes, but she only found relief when the winds eased off.

Yukina then lifted her head, watching as the billowing black body of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame receded back into Hiei's arm. Once the dragon was once more a seemingly innocent black mark on Hiei's arm Yukina turned her attention back to the sky, relieved to see that the Apepi was gone, Kurama was landing with Botan, and Koenma was following behind them, cowering on a puff of white cloud.

As Yukina sat up, she saw Yusuke, Kuwabara and Rui join them, reuniting the group in their entirety. Botan then noticed Hiei standing panting on the spot, his eyelids drooping as sleep threatened to take over after the exertion of using his most powerful attack.

"Oh Hiei!" she gasped, sprinting over to him and putting her hands on his shoulders to steady him. "You're so reckless! Kurama told you to keep a hold of the plant, but you let go just so you could get down here ahead of us to do this? The fall could have killed you, you silly thing!"

Hiei groaned and rolled his eyes, but before he could correct Botan she then noticed Yukina knelt on the ground by George.

"Hiei!" she said.

Her head flicked back and forth between Hiei and Yukina, her face torn between confusion, misery and fear.

"But why are there two Hieis?" she eventually wailed.

Yukina stood up, keeping her eyes on the ground to avoid having to look at anyone else – because in that moment, she could feel that every pair of eyes was on her – and she carefully untied the bandana from around her head. She threw it aside, but Koenma caught it, turning it over to frown down at the bloody talisman she had painted onto the side that had been pressed against her forehead. Yukina ignored his critical reaction, continuing to reach her hands up under the tight vest she was wearing beneath her shirt, fumbling awkwardly to unwrap the bandaging around her chest without removing her clothing. After a prolonged, silent moment of struggling, she eventually pulled the bandaging free of herself, dropping it to the ground at her feet.

"Oh my goodness!" Botan gasped. "Yukina!"

Rui muttered something derogatory under her breath, but Botan did not hear her.

"Oh Yukina, what happened to you?" Botan continued, releasing Hiei and starting towards Yukina. "What have you done to your lovely hair? And why are you dressed like… Like… Hiei!"

Yukina lifted her eyes to look directly at Botan, who stopped short, her face slowly morphing through a range of expressions, before eventually settling on a look of disgusted shock.

"You mean that all this time…?" she said, shaking her head in horror. "You were…? And I was…? And when we…? But… How could you?"

"I just wanted to help," Yukina quietly replied. "I never meant to hurt anybody. I just… Wanted to help."

Botan took a few wary steps back and Yukina moved her attention to Hiei.

"When I heard that you were sick, I just wanted to help you," she told him.

He gave her a critical look before falling to his knees, blinking hard as he tried to stay awake long enough to continue glaring at her. She turned her attention to Yusuke, who seemed to be trying his best to avoid looking directly at her.

"I thought I could help you," she said to him.

When he ignored her she turned her head again and found herself looking at Koenma, who was still holding the bandana she had been using.

"I know it was a dangerous spell to use, but I researched it very carefully before I tried it, I promise!" Yukina implored.

Koenma squared his jaw and shook his head disapprovingly, and so Yukina turned from him, bringing Rui into her line of sight.

"I was just trying to help!" she said. "You understand, don't you?"

Rui gave her a blank look, and so Yukina turned again, her heart sinking as her eyes met Kuwabara's.

"I-I'm so sorry Kazuma," she said softly.

He turned his head from her, and she had to swallow back the urge to break down. She turned her head again and her eyes landed on Kurama, who was already glaring at her with the same dark and disgusted look he had given her on the Apepi's back.

"I… I just…"

Yukina lost her voice as she fought to hold back her tears – despite having had years of practise, there were still times when she struggled to suppress her sadness entirely. Kurama glared at her for a moment longer before turning his back on her and walking away at a brisk pace. She started after him but Hiei caught her arm in a grip that was almost painfully tight, despite his weakened state.

"I think you've done enough for one day, don't you?" Hiei asked her as she met his sleepy eyes.

She hung her head and Hiei's hand slid from her arm, his body slumping to the ground as he was finally overtaken by exhaustion. All around Yukina the others began to follow after Kurama, with Yusuke picking up Hiei, until soon Yukina was alone with Rui. She then dared to lift her head again, looking over at her oldest friend. Rui's face remained blank, but she walked up to Yukina and gently smoothed out her hair, her welcomingly cool fingers wiping strays strands of hair back from Yukina's sweating forehead.

"Your hair will grow back in time," Rui said gently. "And until it does, we can tidy it up a little, wash that colour out of it and soon have you looking pretty again."

"I look terrible," Yukina forlornly replied.

"We can fix your hair," Rui insisted. "A short style will look pretty on you. You've always been a pretty girl, Yukina."

Yukina opened her mouth to reply, but her eyes blurred with tears. Before she could react she found herself pressed against Rui as her friend pulled her into a firm but tender embrace. Yukina gladly put her arms around Rui and relaxed into her with a sigh.

"We'll be alright," Rui assured her.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Everyone returns to living world and Yukina attempts to explain herself and make amends with the gang, with varying degrees of success. **Chapter 32 – Twelfth Night.**


	32. Treaties Negated

**A/N:** This chapter is brought to you by Bowfinger Productions.

This is a chapter of a lot of dialogue, for some obvious reasons. The not-so-obvious reasons are that I wanted to have Yukina fill in a few of the blanks and retell a few of the events that weren't "shown" as they happened earlier in this fic. Also I felt I needed to reiterate a few points raised earlier in the fic.

* * *

 **Chapter 32: Treaties Negated**

"So wait, let me get this straight: the whole time you were running around dressing up as soldiers, men with cleavage and ninjas, Yukina – little, quiet, inoffensive and unassuming Yukina – actually successfully dressed up as a man and joined the fight?"

Botan pouted dejectedly.

"Wow," Keiko whispered.

"You make it sound like I didn't know what I was doing!" Botan complained.

"You didn't!" Shizuru scoffed. "Yukina got it right first time and she's never worked as closely with the boys as you have during a fight. Maybe Yukina should be the "mission manager"."

Botan gasped in horror.

"Wow," Keiko whispered.

"I'm the mission manager!" Botan said. "Nobody else is as qualified as I am to be the mission manager!"

"Why? Because you're the only one who owns enough dumb outfits for the job?" Shizuru asked. "I think Yukina is better qualified than you. She can pick a convincing disguise – unlike you – she's a better healer than you, so therefore she's more useful than you, and she apparently can hold her own in a fight."

"Wow," Keiko whispered.

"Yukina cheated!" Botan said.

"You're just bitter," Shizuru replied.

"Wow," Keiko whispered.

A short way behind where the three girls were standing, Yukina was loitering in the doorway of the temple, watching them carefully. Apart from Rui, who had helped her clean her hair and subtly disposed of the clothing she had worn to disguise herself as Hiei, nobody had spoken to Yukina since she had returned from spirit world. And, even with Rui's diligent help, she had not managed to entirely remove the staining from her hair – most of it had come out with the application of a stringent detergent, but her hair was still a shade darker than it usually was, and she still had several slightly lighter streaks where she had stained her hair white to simulate the starburst of white in Hiei's hair. She hated how she looked and had struggled to smile when Rui had made her study her reflection – but more than that she hated how she felt and how she was going to even begin explaining herself to the others. She had hoped to start with the girls as they were her closest friends and therefore ought to be the most likely to understand; but Keiko looked shocked to the point of physical sickness, Shizuru was being far too flippant about it and Botan was both angry that she had missed her chance to be a part of an "adventure" and embarrassed and awkward about the realisation that she had been inadvertently flirting with Yukina instead of Hiei.

"Has anyone even seen Yukina this morning?" Shizuru asked.

Botan shook her head and Keiko continued to stare blankly at nothing in particular.

"She's still here though, right?" Shizuru pressed. "She hasn't found herself a new disguise out of that spirit world spell-book and taken off someplace else, has she?"

"She went to bed early last night, and she was still asleep when I got up this morning," Botan replied.

"Well no wonder," Shizuru said. "Poor little thing must be exhausted. Can you imagine spending eleven days on the road with those three?"

"Wow," Keiko whispered.

"What she did was totally reckless!" Botan insisted. "She ruined her hair! She could have been killed! And Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama all assumed that she was Hiei – they were all assuming they had someone as powerful as Hiei there helping them! It was an incredibly stupid and dangerous thing to do!"

"More stupid than pretending to be in the SDF?" Shizuru asked, eying Botan critically. "More stupid than trying to join the SDF so that you could fight alongside them after their own captain had been overpowered and abducted, having them believe that you were as strong as they are?"

Yukina turned away from the girls and started to slink quietly back into the temple, only to gasp in alarm as a figure suddenly stepped out of the shadows, blocking her path back to her room.

"I think they both make a good point," a voice greeted her. "Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama were all relying on you as though you were a part of their team, as though you were an equal part of their team. You put more than your own life in danger. And this was, by far, the most dangerous, naïve and stupid thing that you did."

Yukina looked down at the bandana in Koenma's hands – it was ingrained with dirt and yellowed with sweat, but she could still make out the browned stains of her own blood, in the distinctive shape of the talisman she had used to confuse anyone checking for a Jagan eye on her forehead.

"I read the entire book, from cover to cover," she said quietly.

"I don't care," Koenma replied, tightening his grip on the bandana. "That book was from spirit world. I'm angry that Botan took it here, but she at least had the presence of mind not to dabble with the contents after reading the warning in the preface."

"I read the warning in the preface," Yukina replied, daring to meet his eyes.

"You may have read it, but clearly you didn't understand it," Koenma snapped back. "Which makes it all the worse that you continued to use the spells in that book! If you can't even understand a warning, how can you understand the danger?"

"I'm very sorry Sir. I never intended to use the book. I read it because it was interesting. But then nobody would tell me what had happened to Hiei, and I became worried. When I saw how worried Kurama was that Hiei was missing, I knew something bad must have happened. And then when I overheard you talking to Kurama, Yusuke and Kazuma about the virus in demon world, I knew I could help. I also knew that nobody would listen to me or take me seriously if I asked to go along on the mission to get to Hiei. I thought if everyone thought I was Hiei they would respect me enough to let me go to demon world. I never intended for things to get so complicated. After we found the breach to spirit world, I tried to get to Hiei. I was going to tell the truth once I got to him and managed to help him get better. But… But then, on the way there, we found Rikka, and she led us to the auction in Illyria, and…"

"And you further abused your disguise to recruit Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama into helping you cause political unrest in demon world?"

"I never intended to cause political unrest Sir, I just wanted to save my friends from being tortured."

"A demon using forbidden spells from a banned book normally kept hidden in spirit world is a serious crime, Yukina."

Yukina stiffened, her eyes growing large as the stern look on Koenma's face suddenly started to seem to be more an expression of carefully controlled anger than the side-effect of his sometimes childish nature that she had initially assumed it to be.

"I should arrest you for this, you understand," he added, his voice barely above a whisper.

Yukina took a moment to find her voice, her mouth moving soundlessly as she tried to answer him.

"W-will you arrest me?" she eventually managed to ask.

"I should," Koenma replied. "But I'm not going to. You've shown no signs of this sort of behaviour before, and I think that, after the amount of trouble you've caused for yourself this time around, you won't be in any hurry to repeat your actions."

"I have no intention of repeating my actions Sir, I promise," Yukina insisted, bowing her head politely.

"Well the chances of Hiei becoming so incapacitated that you have such an opportunity again are negligible, to say the least," Koenma said, his expression softening slightly. "I need to know that you understand that what you did was dangerous, stupid and illegal. That book was banned for a reason, and you are not to tamper with spirit world materials again – and I don't care if Botan gives them to you or not, you should still know better than to mess with them."

Yukina hurriedly nodded.

"And don't worry," Koenma added. "You're not the only one I'm reproaching. Botan is in trouble for taking the book from the spirit world library, and Yusuke is in serious trouble for breaking his Psychic Spyglass!"

Yukina tried to hide her initial twitch of horror behind a nervous laugh as her mind replayed the image of her own booted heel crushing Yusuke's Psychic Spyglass into oblivion in the cockpit of one of the military vehicles the team had travelled around demon world in. She had been forced into it at the time – had Yusuke decided to turn the item on her, he would have seen the talismans she was hiding behind, not to mention a few other things that would clearly have revealed that she was not Hiei.

"Yes, well, I'm glad we had this talk," Koenma said, eying Yukina over suspiciously. "Try to keep out of trouble from now on."

Yukina sighed in relief as he stormed past her – presumably on his way to locate Yusuke – and she then tried to continue on her way back to her room, only to be forced to a halt a few steps later as a hand grabbed her elbow.

"Hey, where do you think you're going, Little Miss?"

Yukina contained a groan and turned around to see Shizuru grinning down at her.

"So I just have two questions, really," Shizuru said as their eyes met. "First of all, why didn't you take me, Keiko and Botan with you on your little adventure? And second, you have to at least tell us what those boys really get up to when they're on the road together."

Yukina searched Shizuru's eyes for any sign of jest, but found none. She moved her eyes to Shizuru's side, where Keiko was standing a step back, still looking pale and bewildered. Botan was nowhere to be seen, which meant that at least she would not have to deal with quite so many questions before she managed to escape back to her room again.

"Well," she began, turning her attention back to Shizuru. "Neither you nor Keiko could survive in demon world. Few humans who accidentally land in demon world survive if they are not found and returned home swiftly. The air is toxic, and Keiko would quickly perish breathing it, and the general dark energy of demon world would overwhelm a psychic as sensitive as you, Shizuru."

"Are you saying we're not as tough as you are?" Shizuru asked.

"No, but you are both human and I am demon," Yukina reminded her. "Demon world was my birthplace, and, for many years, it was my home."

"Fair enough," Shizuru conceded. "Now answer my next question: what was it like being that close to the action?"

Yukina sighed, rolling her eyes towards the ceiling as she tried to think of an appropriate response.

"Well, it wasn't at all how I imagined it might be," she eventually answered, lowering her eyes to Shizuru again. "They curse, expel gas through various orifices and talk about matters of a sexual nature a lot more than they do around us."

"What?" Keiko said, stepping forwards, her eyes suddenly finding focus.

"And they spend an inordinate amount of time naked," Yukina added.

"Naked?" Keiko repeated, leaning closer still.

Shizuru snorted and waved a dismissive hand in the air.

"Oh come on, Yukina!" she said. "You're not seriously trying to say you've seen all three of them naked just because they thought you were Hiei?"

Yukina nodded, trying to ignore the way Keiko's jaw fell away from her face and Shizuru's eyebrows twisted over her suddenly wide eyes.

"You mean they never suspected that you weren't Hiei, not even for a minute?" Keiko asked.

Yukina shook her head.

"So… Huh…" Shizuru muttered.

"Is it really true that you discovered during a trial in spirit world that Yusuke is a virgin?" Keiko asked.

Yukina nodded.

"Seriously?" Shizuru asked.

Yukina nodded again.

"I was there when it happened," she said.

"I had no idea!" Keiko whispered.

"Well, have you ever slept with him?" Shizuru asked her.

"Well no, but I assumed he'd been with other girls!" Keiko replied. "He lived in demon world for three years, for crying out loud! I didn't honestly expect him to remain faithful to me during that time!"

"It was lucky that he was," Yukina added. "Because if he hadn't been, I would have been forced to open the gate and then explain myself. I was just about to do that, but Yusuke thought I was accusing him of holding back when he knew he was able to help us, and he opened the gate before I got the chance to finish explaining myself."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Shizuru asked. "Couldn't my brother have opened the gate?"

Yukina slowly shook her head, gulping as she saw the angered look brewing in Shizuru's eyes.

"I didn't know my brother had got past first base with you," she said in a dangerously low voice. "In fact, I didn't even know he'd gotten to first base with you."

"But I just told you I could have opened the gate," Yukina hurriedly pointed out.

"But you didn't," Shizuru said. "I don't mind if you've always liked Kurama, but if you've been leading my brother on, that's another matter entirely…"

"Oh, no, Kuwabara hasn't ever so much as kissed Yukina!" Keiko interjected, bringing a quiet sigh of relief from Yukina. "He dated a girl called Ayame for a while, and I think there were maybe one or two others, too."

"What?" Shizuru echoed, rounding on Keiko.

"I guess he didn't tell you, huh?" Keiko asked.

"You guess right! Why wouldn't he tell his own sister he had a girlfriend?"

"Maybe because you might yell at him?"

"I wouldn't yell at him!"

"You always yell at him. And you're yelling at me right now for telling you this."

Once Yukina was sure that Shizuru and Keiko were suitably distracted arguing between themselves she hurriedly fled from them, gladly taking herself back the welcome solitude of her room. She pulled the door closed and took a few calming deep breaths before starting towards her bed – only to scream in alarm, stumble over her own feet and almost crack her head on a bed-post as she fell awkwardly onto her bed. She quickly righted herself, scrambling backwards to press her back against her headboard, eying the unwelcome intruder in her room with wide eyes.

"There, you see? You're not the only one who can play clever tricks. You didn't even know I was in here."

Yukina shook her head.

"You've caused me quite a lot of trouble and embarrassment, Missy."

"I never meant to do that," Yukina replied, still shaking her head.

"Really?"

Yukina faltered slightly.

"Well, I…" she began awkwardly.

"Lord Koenma is furious that I let that book land in your hands, Yukina," Botan said, before sitting down hard onto the edge of Yukina's bed.

"I'm so sorry Botan," Yukina insisted. "I didn't mean to get you in any trouble."

"And you almost came between me and Hiei," Botan added.

"…Um… How so?"

"Well, all those times I thought you were him… He's very offended that I couldn't tell the difference…"

"Oh. Well… Hiei is a reasonable… I mean Hiei is… Um… I'm sure he won't blame you for this forever."

"Worse than that Yukina, you came between Hiei and Kurama."

"Oh, no, I never did that! Wait… Did I?"

"Yes, you did."

"You mean… Kurama really was attracted to Hiei?"

"What? No! I mean you have ruined their friendship because of what you did. Hiei is angry that Kurama kissed you all the while thinking that you were him."

"Ah. I see."

Botan nodded.

"I never meant to cause them so many problems," Yukina said. "Please, Botan, you have to understand – maybe you understand more than anyone else – I just felt so useless sitting in this temple all alone while my brother was suffering. I had to do something, and with that book, I had the means to intervene!"

"What did you just say?" Botan asked, eying Yukina warily.

"I said with that book, I had the means to intervene," Yukina repeated.

"No, no, before that," Botan said, waving a hand about irritably. "You just mentioned your brother. I thought you said you hadn't managed to find him?"

Yukina held back the urge to call Botan out on her near-flawless act of ignorance.

"I know that Hiei is my brother, Botan," she said instead.

Botan gasped, her hands flying to her mouth and again Yukina resisted the urge to tell her to stop feigning ignorance.

"I didn't tell you that!" Botan said. "Did I? Oh dear, I did, didn't I? When I thought you were Hiei, I referred to Yukina as your sister! Oh my, Hiei will be furious!"

"Yes, Botan, you did say it, but you weren't the first," Yukina assured her. "Kurama was the first to mention it."

"Kurama?" Botan echoed. "How unlike him, he's normally so secretive!"

"He thought I was Hiei, remember? He referred to me as Hiei's sister, and he talked about Hiei coming from the ice village, and then I knew for sure."

"Oh, well, I'm so glad it wasn't me who squealed."

"Yes, well, on that subject, you, better than anyone, knew how much it pained me that I could never find my brother, that I never knew if he had survived or perished. I thought you were my friend, Botan, but all this time you knew and you never told me."

Botan shook her head and waved her hands in the air, but the look of guilt on her face was still obvious.

"It wasn't that simple!" she defended herself. "Hiei threatened to kill me if I told you! And it wasn't my place to tell you, it was up to him to tell you! I thought it was very mean of him not to tell you the day you gave him your hirui stone and asked him to find the fire demon carrying the matching one, but you know Hiei, he won't be told!"

"If you had told me, I wouldn't have told Hiei that I knew," Yukina replied. "I would have respected you as a friend and not revealed to him that you had told me the truth. I never would have admitted it to him, even if he ever found the courage to admit it to me himself. I just would have liked to have known, for my own peace of mind. You could see that I was suffering, why didn't you tell me in confidence?"

"It wasn't my place to tell you, and Hiei told me not to!" Botan insisted. "But now that you do know, you must understand how bad the situation between Hiei and Kurama now is! Hiei could barely tolerate it when Kuwabara was singing love songs at you, he's furious that Kurama, his supposed best friend, actually put his hands on you!"

"I don't see why what happened has to stop Hiei and Kurama from being friends any more."

"You don't? Really? Maybe there's no problem from Kurama's perspective, but what about Hiei? He's so confused, wondering if Kurama always wanted to kiss him all this time, and knowing that Kurama was attracted to you and knowing what fox demons like doing to ice maidens like you!"

"Kurama isn't like that."

"No, I know that, and you know that, but Hiei's anger is making him so irrational he doesn't know that!"

Yukina lowered her head to avoid having to look at Botan any longer, mostly because she was starting to feel guilty that maybe her ruse had destroyed the trust between Kurama and Hiei.

"And it's true that I kept a secret from you," Botan continued. "But you kept one from me too: you never told me you liked Kurama."

"And you only found that out because you and Keiko went snooping around in my private quarters during my absence," Yukina bit back, finding the courage to look directly at Botan again.

"It's not the same thing, Yukina," Botan argued.

"It absolutely is. You violated my trust in you."

"That's not the same thing as going around pretending to be a man who can fight as well as Hiei!"

"You don't take me or my feelings seriously. You think I'm just a child."

"Well you are!"

Yukina scowled at Botan, but the ferry girl remained unaffected.

"Look at what you're wearing!" Botan said, waving a hand at Yukina.

Yukina looked down at herself and her heart sank. After spending most of the evening before enduring Rui scrubbing at her hair and then enduring a difficult night's sleep that was fraught with nightmares, Yukina had not given much thought to her choice of clothing that morning: she had simply opened her wardrobe and pulled out the first garment she had laid her hands on. Which, unfortunately, was the pink dress that came to halfway down her calves and buttoned all the way up to the neck. Keiko had taken her shopping for it some time ago, and it had, Yukina remember bitterly, come from a child's clothing store.

"The adult clothes are too long for me because I'm not very tall," she said meekly.

"Because you're a little girl!" Botan replied.

"I'm not a little girl!" Yukina argued.

"You're dressed like one and, until recently, you've always acted like one!"

Yukina gasped.

"You think I'm immature?" she asked.

"No, just childish," Botan replied.

"That's worse!"

"No, I meant to say "childlike"."

"That's still bad!"

"No it's not! We all love how sweet and innocent you are! You're adorable! You're like a little kitten!"

"I am not a child! Stop patronising me!"

Botan sobered then and reached a hand over towards Yukina, patting one of her bent knees gently.

"I'm sorry Yukina," she said. "But as your friend, I have to make you understand this: Kurama is a man. As a demon and as a human. He may seem very kind and gentle to you, but he's not like Kuwabara. He won't be contented with picnics and getting to sit beside you on the couch when we play cards."

"What are you trying to say?" Yukina pressed.

"Kuwabara was a unique case. Kurama won't be content to worship a woman from afar. If he wants someone that way, he would act, rather than hesitate like Kuwabara has done these last thirty-seven years."

"I haven't known Kuwabara for anything close to thirty-seven years."

"Really? I suppose sometimes it just feels like it's been that long…"

"Botan, stop trying to be diplomatic and just tell me directly what you mean."

Botan retracted her hand from Yukina's knee and shuffled herself around to sit at the foot of the bed, facing up the length of it towards Yukina.

"In normal serious romantic relationships between adults, more things happen than just the girl cooking for the boy and the boy singing glam rock songs quite badly at her in return," she began.

It was clear that Botan was trying to be polite, but Yukina was growing angered, and Botan's tone and mannerisms were starting to seem insultingly condescending to her.

"They want physical intimacy," Botan continued. "Do you understand what that means?"

"Are you talking about sex?" Yukina asked, inwardly hating herself as her voice wavered on her last word, a tell that Botan did not fail to pick up on, her head tilting and her expression becoming sympathetic.

"Yes, and do you really understand what that means?" Botan asked.

Botan started talking again, but at the sight of her pushing her index finger on one hand through a circle formed by the thumb and fingers on her opposite hand Yukina threw her pillow at Botan, who fell silent as it clipped her forehead.

"Just stop!" Yukina began as she scrambled to stand from her bed. "Just stop fussing over me and treating me like a child all the time!"

Botan grabbed her arm and Yukina paused long enough to look back over her shoulder at the ferry girl and hear what she had to say.

"I just need to know that you understand," she insisted. "The first time can be very stressful and, in some cases, painful. I just don't want you to get hurt or be afraid."

Yukina tugged her arm out of Botan's grip.

"I've seen and endured much scarier and much more painful things than love," she said.

"But–"

"And you already know that. You saw the scars I had after being Tarukane's prisoner. Now leave me alone, please."

Yukina marched briskly from the room, half expecting Botan to call her back or come running after her, and only feeling a little surprised when neither happened. She kept going at the same pace, around the back of the temple, altering her path a few times as she found herself approaching the sound of voices, determined to take herself somewhere private. When she failed to find anywhere within the temple that she could be alone, she eventually resigned to leave the temple altogether and start towards the hollow tree where she had buried the tools she had used to turn herself into Hiei.

"Returning to the scene of the crime?"

Yukina stumbled to a halt, clenching her fists at her sides as she fought back tears of sheer frustration.

"I saw it all, you know. I saw everything."

"Why?" Yukina snapped before she could stop herself. "Because you watch me all the time with your Jagan eye? Because if that's true, did you also see all those nights I prayed for you and cried myself to sleep worrying over you?"

Hiei broke eye contact with Yukina in a brief moment of apparent guilt, but quickly recovered his composure.

"I thought you were at least a sensible girl," he began. "But what you did here was stupid beyond–"

"I'm not a girl, I'm a woman!" Yukina corrected him.

"No, you are a girl," Hiei calmly replied.

"If that's true, then you are just a boy," Yukina retaliated.

Hiei tensed.

"You don't like that?" she asked.

"You've lived most of your life in the ice village," he carefully responded. "I know what goes on up there, I know how those women live. I know what they taught you, how they raised you. There are so many things you don't yet understand about life outside of the ice village."

"It's true that there are many things I've encountered since leaving the ice village that have shocked me," Yukina admitted.

"And there are many more things you will encounter yet that will shock you more. I think you encountered a few shocking things when you pretended to be me."

"Yes…"

"A premeditated act that makes me wonder just how naïve you really are."

"It wasn't premeditated. I heard you were sick and I thought I could cure you, so I made my disguise."

"You read the book long before that happened."

"Yes, but the two incidents are unrelated. I read the book because I'm trying to learn more about different ways I could use my powers, and I thought a book about ancient spells might teach me something useful."

"And you made appropriate replications of my clothing to disguise yourself."

"Yes."

"You made them by hand, and even bought footwear like mine in a size that fitted you. You did those things weeks before I fell ill. Explain that."

"I can't."

"Can't or won't? You did those things after reading the book of spells. You knew I was the one person you could most easily disguise yourself as – we're both the same height, we have similar features and you thought that because I'm often quiet, you wouldn't even need to think of appropriate things to say if you were pretending to be me. You planned this weeks ago, you were just waiting for the right opportunity. It came quicker than you expected. You wish you'd had more time to work on your skills with a sword – something else you started studying intensely when you began reading that book."

"You read my thoughts."

"When I saw you being used as a chew toy by a wood nymph, I felt justified in doing so. You were in danger, and I had to know why you were in that situation. I had to know if you had chosen to do it or been forced to."

"You had no right to invade my privacy like that. You're just as bad as Botan! You think you have the right to rummage through my personal thoughts and feelings and then cast judgement on me and tell me what to do!"

Yukina sighed and turned her back on Hiei, finding a little relief from removing the sight of him glaring at her from her vision.

"You did something incredibly reckless, you could have hurt others as well as yourself," Hiei said. "I don't believe that's something the Yukina I know would want to do."

"Maybe it's a family trait," Yukina quietly replied. "Look at all the reckless things you've done that endangered more lives than just your own."

"And you may have made an effort to alter your personality, but you made no effort to alter your gender-ingrained habits," Hiei responded.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"You made me seem like a woman. Even Yusuke, at one point on the mission, thought that I had somehow turned into a woman because of your behaviour."

Yukina looked back over her shoulder at her brother.

"What's wrong with being a woman?" she asked quietly.

"If I had been born a woman, I would be an ice maiden, and I would lived in that place with those women, and now I would be just like them," he coldly replied. "It's a fate I am grateful everyday to have escaped."

"If you had been born a woman, you would be me," Yukina pointed out. "We were born on the same day, from the same mother."

Hiei tensed slightly, but said nothing.

"I don't understand why you didn't ever tell me," Yukina said softly, turning from him again to avoid having to see how little his emotions were affected by their conversation. "I was so lonely. Our mother was an orphan when she gave birth to us, she was the only family I had, and after she died, I felt such hope, such joy, when Miss Rui told me that I had a brother. I just wanted to have a family. Everyone else in the village had a family except me. Even Miss Rui had her mother and grandmother, but all I had was a dream about a brother I thought I might never find."

When Hiei did not respond, Yukina looked back over her shoulder in the hope of gauging his response by his appearance; but apparently he had fled, because, despite turning on the spot twice, she could not find any visual trace of her ever-elusive brother.

She wondered if he would ever admit that he was her brother, or if he would even ever talk to her about it.

With a sigh Yukina picked her way over to the temple steps and started down them, only to stop short as she noticed someone sitting on the steps some way below her. She hesitated on the spot for an uncomfortable length of time as she dithered about what to do next – should she turn back and sneak away, or confront him, she wondered?

"Hey, Yukina."

Yukina started down the steps, her mind going blank as the decision was taken from her hands: apparently she had already been spotted. She took a seat next to the slightly sullen redhead, smiling up at him nervously.

"Your friend Rui seems like a nice lady," Kuwabara said, keeping his eyes forward, leaving Yukina watching his profile intently. "She made some little sweet cakes last night after you went to bed. I think I ate about seven of them."

Yukina smiled.

"I learnt how to cook and bake from Miss Rui," she said. "When I was a child, Miss Rui took on the role of my late mother, and as I grew up, she became my friend. She's going to stay here at the temple with me from now on."

"That's nice."

"You'll still visit us, won't you?"

Kuwabara picked up a loose pebble by the side of the steps and threw it down, watching it bounce down several steps before disappearing from sight.

"I'm sorry I farted in your face that one time," he said quietly.

Yukina made to answer him, but words failed her.

"And I'm sorry I, um, y'know, made number one in front of you," he continued. "And I'm sorry I dropped you that time I carried you on my back. But, hey, I thought you were Hiei when I did those things."

"Hiei is my brother," Yukina pointed out.

"Yeah, I know that now," Kuwabara replied.

"Well maybe if you think that's the wrong way to treat me, then it's the wrong way for you to treat my brother," Yukina said.

"But… He's Hiei. And he makes my life so difficult – and on purpose too!"

Yukina nodded and turned to look forwards, partly hoping to see something that Kuwabara might be looking at – even though she already knew that he was simply avoiding looking directly at her.

"So Hiei's your twin brother?" Kuwabara asked after a short silence had passed between them.

Yukina nodded, and although neither of them turned towards the other, Kuwabara seemed to notice her action.

"So does that mean you can feel each other's pain and stuff?" he asked.

"No," she replied.

"So Hiei didn't feel anything that happened to you when you came to demon world with us, right?"

"No."

"Good."

"But he did see everything."

"What?"

"He said he was watching me with his Jagan eye the whole time."

"Oh…"

Yukina turned to look at Kuwabara again, but still he did not turn to her.

"I'm very sorry if I hurt your feelings at all, Kazuma," she said gently. "I know I insulted you when we were in demon world – and probably when we were in spirit world too – but I had to. I had to behave just like Hiei, or you would have suspected me."

"You didn't hurt my feelings when I thought you were Hiei," Kuwabara replied. "You didn't say or do anything that was any meaner than anything Hiei's ever said or done to me. But it did kinda hurt when I found out you've had a crush on Kurama all this time."

Yukina turned her head from Kuwabara to hide her embarrassment.

"I really wish you'd told me sooner that you didn't like me."

Yukina gasped and spun around, finding herself face-to-face with Kuwabara; but she no longer cared that he could see the colour in her cheeks.

"I do like you Kazuma!" she protested. "Of course I like you! I've always liked you, and I always will! I just… I don't feel as strongly for you as… As you want me to."

"I thought I was doing all the right things to make you like me more," he replied, trying to smile but only succeeding in looking infinitely more miserable.

"I'm so sorry if I misled you," she said sadly. "Please know that was never my intention! But… You have had other girlfriends, and I don't know that you ever really understood me. I… I don't much care for watching wrestling, or listening to angry music, or watching the movie "Fake Purse Ninjas" over and over and over and–"

"I thought you liked "Fake Purse Ninjas"! It's the perfect movie for a guy to watch with his girlfriend! It has ninjas, which I like, and it has purses, which you like!"

"But I don't even own a purse, Kazuma."

"Do you hate it because the purses were fake?"

"No. I hate it because it's just a bad movie."

"Oh. Wow."

Yukina sighed.

"So I guess you're gonna go on a date with Kurama now, huh?" Kuwabara asked her.

Yukina's eyes doubled in size and her face at first felt cold as the colour drained from it entirely; but, mere seconds later, she began to feel her face burn as it suddenly flooded with colour again.

"I guess Kurama always was better with the ladies than I was," Kuwabara continued. "He's a not as manly as I am, but he knows a lot of stuff about flowers and all those girly things you like."

Yukina turned from Kuwabara again.

"I don't want to talk about this with you," she said quietly.

"I'm not mad at you," he assured her.

"Maybe I want you to be."

"I'm just a bit upset and maybe disappointed."

"I don't know what I need to do to make things right between us."

"Well, unless you change your mind about Kurama and decide you'd prefer someone who prefers ninjas to flowers, you don't really need to do anything, I suppose."

"You're being so reasonable. I feel worse now."

"Your friend Rui spoke to me last night. She said I had probably misunderstood you all this time and that I should go easy on you."

"You don't have to do what someone else tells you to."

"What she said made a lot of sense. She's a nice lady."

Yukina nodded.

"She said she thought "Fake Purse Ninjas" sounded like it was a fun movie."

Yukina turned back to Kuwabara to see if he was making an attempt at humour – and when she saw that he was deadly serious, she was left wondering just what Rui had been thinking when she had made such a ridiculous proclamation.

"Things might be easier from now on though if you just stayed a girl," Kuwabara said. "And don't try to be Hiei again."

Yukina nodded and touched a hand to Kuwabara's arm. He forced a tight-lipped smile and, once she was sure that he was not going to touch her hand, she stood up, bowed to him and continued down the temple steps to the forest below, feeling exhausted mentally and emotionally.

"Hey!"

Yukina yelped as something landed on the forest path ahead of her. She barely had time to register who it was before he was suddenly at her side. She flinched as he dropped a heavy arm around her shoulders and started to walk on, pulling her along with him.

"We need to talk," he explained as he caught her watching him fearfully.

"I didn't tell Keiko and Shizuru, I promise!" Yukina hurriedly answered.

"What?" Yusuke grunted, frowning down at her questioningly. "Oh, no, it's not about that. There's two really major things we need to talk about. And we need to walk this way while we talk."

"Do we need to walk this fast?" Yukina asked, stumbling awkwardly along as her shorter legs tried to keep pace with Yusuke's longer, stronger strides.

"Yeah, because the first thing we need to talk about isn't gonna take that long."

"I don't understand."

"Just keep walking. It'll make sense soon."

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Yusuke has a proposition that shocks Yukina, Kurama and Yukina finally get to talk to each other as themselves and then Fumio comes back (ie I get to do my typical Harumoto/Sayori scene – I've noticed I keep putting Harumoto/Sayori scenes into my fanfics ever since I read YoJinBo…) **Chapter 33 – What You Will**


	33. What You Will

**A/N:** "What You Will" was the original title for "Twelfth Night".

* * *

 **Chapter 33: What You Will**

"I think I already know what you're going to say to me. And whilst I know that you are justified in saying it, I just want you to know that I already know it, and everyone else has already said it to me. And I'm sorry."

Yusuke snorted.

"If you're sorry, then obviously you don't know what I need to say," he said.

"But I do," Yukina insisted. "And I am. Sorry. I am sorry."

"Okay here's how I see it: when we went on this stupid mission for Koenma, some pretty major shit happened. First, me, Kuwabara and Kurama all got a virus that should have killed us. Then I got an arrow shot through my leg. Then I got the crap squeezed out of me by Fabio's dumb tree. Then a bunch of stuff happened with your crazy ancestors but then we went to spirit world, and I had to open that second gate."

Yukina blinked up at Yusuke, but he continued forcing her along at a pace that was, for her at least, somewhere between a brisk walk and a jog, and he kept his face forwards, never once looking at her. He looked determined, but also slightly bored – which was not much help in gauging his mood or meaning, since that was his usual, default expression in any situation.

"I know I caused you a lot of trouble, Yusuke," Yukina said carefully. "But I am still so grateful that you helped me free my people, that we were able to give them a choice, and that some of them actually chose to help, to liberate themselves–"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah," Yusuke cut her off. "Look my point is this: Genkai taught me that the important thing about teamwork is understanding that there's no "me" in team… Though when you think about it, there sort of is, because you can't spell "team" without "M" or "E"… Anyway, the old lady said a team was only as good as the people in it, and that a team could only work as a team if every person in the team understood what everyone else could do. And, y'know, I guess that's why Koenma put me with Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei – we understand each other and we work well as a team. Well, maybe Hiei and Kuwabara don't really understand each other, but they work well because they know each other's powers, right?"

Yukina shook her head, her hair scratching against Yusuke's armpit.

"And Genkai also said sometimes when I failed at something I should stop and think about what happened and why I failed," Yusuke continued regardless. "And last night, I got to thinking about the mission we just did, and I don't think I failed this time. You see?"

"I'm sorry, no," Yukina quietly replied.

"I thought about how that mission would have gone if Hiei hadn't been sick, if he'd come with us instead of you, or how things would have been if it had just been me, Kurama and Kuwabara, and it made me realise something: all the shit that happened would still have happened anyway."

"…Well, maybe without Hiei, your team wouldn't have stormed Illyria and stopped the auction. And maybe even with Hiei you wouldn't have done that."

"No, it's not like that. Think about it. With or without Hiei, it still would have been the same: we got sick as soon as we went to demon world – Kurama probably would've gotten worse first, because he went to demon world first to investigate the virus – and I still would have been shot in the leg, only now I'd have a hole there, and Fabio's tree still would have caught me, only this time it might have broken more than just one of my ribs, because I would have been real sick by then. Do you get me now?"

"No. Should I?"

"Gees Yukina, it's no wonder Kuwabara couldn't seal the deal with you!"

"What?"

"I'm trying to tell you important stuff here!"

"And I'm trying to listen…"

"Okay, so how about this: if you hadn't come on the mission with us, the virus might have killed all three of us – especially Kurama, who caught it first – and I would have been limping around because I had a hole in my leg and then Fabio's tree would have crushed me to death. Our team only worked this time because you were a part of it. You were the "T" and the "A" in this team."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, Genkai said there's no "me" in team, but there is, so I guess what she really meant was that the important part of a team is the "T" and "A", which, this time, was you. You brought the "T" and "A" to our team, and that was actually pretty cool."

Yukina yelped as, a few seconds after he had finished speaking, Yusuke stumbled to a halt, roughly recovering his arm from around her shoulder. She watched as he rubbed at his chin and squinted up at the sky as though deep in thought.

"Wait a minute…" he said slowly. ""T" and "A"? Oh, now I get it! It's because you're a girl! "T" and "A"! Why didn't I get that before?"

Yukina gave Yusuke a look he would normally have received from her brother, but he failed to notice her pains.

"I knew the old lady was just making fun of me when she gave me that whole "no me in team" crap…" he muttered.

"There's no "I" in team," Yukina said.

"Well obviously not!" Yusuke scoffed. "That would be teami! Hm, Teami… That sounds like a good name for a stripper…"

"Yusuke, Genkai told us there is no "I" in team," Yukina patiently replied. "It's one of those wordplay lessons taught to help you remember an important point about the word in question: the letter "I" isn't in the word team, but also you can't effectively work in a team if you only think about yourself, so, in order to gain a team mentality, you can't think of "I"."

"Right…"

"Do you understand now?"

"Sure."

"Really?"

"…I prefer my explanation. I brought the "me" and you brought the "T" and "A"."

Yukina sighed quietly.

"Is that a veiled compliment?" she asked.

"A what?" Yusuke echoed. "Gees, you've been spending so much time around Kurama, you're starting to sound like him! Look, I just meant that we couldn't have done that mission without you. And I guess if you had come to us the first day Koenma told us about the mission and asked to be a part of the team, we never would have let you. I see why you had to do what you did – though, you know, you could have done a few things a bit better, like not used all that girly shampoo, and you could have been a bit less creepy about some of the other things, like stuffing your pants with Kuwabara's socks."

"The shampoo was necessary," Yukina explained. "With Kurama's keen sense of smell, every time I sweated – which was most of the time – I risked him recognising my scent. Or if not recognising me, at least realising that my scent was not Hiei's."

"I never thought about that. I guess you really covered all the bases then, huh?"

"I had to."

"No, I get that. It's cool."

"It is?"

"Well, no, you're still a twisted little bitch who gets her kicks out of dressing up in drag and acting like Hiei, but I get why you did it. I never thought you could fight – though that thing Kurama said about how ice maidens fight defensively instead of offensively totally makes sense to me now, because I see now that's what you were doing the whole time. You stopped arrows and energy attacks with barriers and you turned water to ice and you healed yourself as quickly as you got hurt. That's pretty smart. I thought maybe "fighting defensively" sounded kinda lame and weak, but you made it work. Twelve days ago, if you'd said to me that you'd be saving my life time and time again, I never would have believed you. But you did, Yukina. You cured me of the virus, you sniffed out those wood nymphs, you repaired that hole in my leg, you killed Fabio's stupid tree before it did any serious damage to me or Kuwabara, and you – unlike Kuwabara and Koenma, and Hiei if he had been there – didn't go around telling people about what happened at the second gate in spirit world."

Yukina made to answer him but Yusuke held up a hand to stop her.

"I know you spoke to Keiko about it, but you only did that after you knew she already found out," he added. "I don't think you would have told her if she didn't already know, and that's cool too."

Yukina nodded, though she still felt strangely separated from the conversation: the last thing she had been expecting that day was that anyone would be kind to her and treat her as an equal, least of all Yusuke.

"And you're not rude and selfish like Hiei," Yusuke continued, shrugging his shoulders and watching his feet as he kicked a pebble across the forest path. "And because of that whole paper bag thing you do, you don't cry all the time like normal girls, which is also quite cool. I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe our team needs a little "T" and "A" sometimes, yeah?"

Yukina started to frown, her chest buzzing as an array of emotions began fizzing up inside of her.

"We can't always find Hiei when we need him, but we always know where you are," he said. "So maybe sometimes you could come with us on a mission Yukina."

"You mean that?" Yukina asked, her voice straining against the growing tenseness in her throat.

"Sure, why not?" Yusuke replied.

"You really mean that?"

"Yeah… Hey, are you okay?"

"Oh Yusuke!"

Yusuke grunted as Yukina threw herself at him. She was not really sure how he would react or feel about her grabbing him into a clinging embrace, but she was past caring.

"Hey, it's cool," he said, sounding a little awkward. "For a girl – and especially for a girl from that weird ass ice rock in the sky – you do okay, kid."

He patted her a little roughly on the head and she took a few calming breaths before releasing him and taking a step back.

"You're not gonna cry, are you?" he asked her in a low voice.

She shook her head.

"Damn it!" he muttered.

"What?" she echoed, her almost tearful eyes drying in an instant.

"Well, y'know, Hokushin stopped by last night, and he said Kokou is kinda pissed about us using up her supply of super-powered booze," Yusuke quietly replied. "And she's saying the cost of replacing it all is more money than a guy like me could easily get his hands on…"

Yukina narrowed her eyes at him and he grinned nervously.

"Hey, I wasn't trying to make you cry," he quickly assured her. "But hey, if Kokou or any of Enki's staff comes asking after me, you haven't seen me, right?"

Yukina managed a smile and Yusuke visibly relaxed.

"So that was part one," he said. "And now it's time for part two."

"Part two?" she asked.

"Yeah. This way."

Yusuke nodded his head towards a small side path through the trees and Yukina followed him, having to break into a sprint as he quickened his pace. She tried calling after him and asking him to slow down but he did not respond and so she focused her energy on chasing after him – but unfortunately she was no match for his top speed, and she shortly lost sight of him amongst the trees. She kept going forwards regardless, eventually breaking free of the trees and crossing a short expanse of coarse, spiky grass that gave way to the pale sands of the beach. Yukina slowed to a halt and looked about herself curiously, eventually seeing a flash of movement in the distance that she just had time to make out as Yusuke's retreating form before he disappeared into the trees once more. She sighed and started after him, only to stumble to a halt at the sound of a familiar voice.

"He only meant for you to follow him this far."

Yukina turned to the source of the voice, silently wondering how she had managed to overlook him before that moment – from where she stood she could only see the back of his head, but he was unmistakable regardless.

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Yukina gulped and slowly approached the bleached chunk of driftwood Kurama was sitting behind.

"Or do you require the security and ambiguity of an elaborate disguise to converse with me?"

Yukina moved around the end of what had clearly once been the trunk of a large tree, where she could clearly see Kurama sitting, his back resting against the driftwood and his legs resting straight out in front of him. He was holding a seashell in one hand, his head tilted downwards as his eyes studied it. He was dressed in a pair of chinos that she had often seen him wear, and she once more found her eyes lingering on the slight tightness of the material around the tops of his legs, a subtle reminder of the muscular thighs they concealed. She gulped and tried to distract herself from that thought, but did not need to look far for a welcome distraction as she noticed that he was also wearing a deep red poloneck sweater that looked worryingly like one of those they had bought in the underground in their attempts to disguise the ice maidens.

"Sit down," Kurama said, throwing the shell aside and lifting his head.

He turned his head, his eyes moving to Yukina, who tensed slightly as he once more regarded her with the same darkened look he had been giving her ever since his untimely conversation with Botan the morning before. She hated it and it pained her more than she would ever dare admit out loud, but she obeyed his instruction regardless and moved closer to him, sitting down at his side on the sand, copying his position, resting her back against the driftwood and stretching her legs out; but she was sure to keep a respectable distance from him, sitting almost the length of her own arm from his side.

"You've done an incredibly stupid, reckless, irresponsible thing these past eleven days," he said once she was settled at his side. "Are you even aware of the potential danger you put not only yourself, but everyone else around you, in?"

Yukina nodded silently.

"And you didn't foresee any of those dangers or problems prior to what you did?" Kurama continued.

Yukina paused, looking away from him for a moment as she gave his question serious consideration.

"I didn't expect it to be easy," she eventually answered, meeting his eyes again. "But I didn't expect it to be as difficult as it was. And I never intended to maintain the lie, least of all as long as I did. I just wanted to get to Hiei and help him. And I did try to tell you the truth, many times, but…"

"But you didn't," Kurama finished for her.

"I'm sorry Kurama."

"Kurama?"

Yukina paused, unsure how to interpret the odd look Kurama was giving her.

"After spending eleven days travelling across the three worlds with me you think yourself so familiar with me now that you no longer need to call me "Mister" Kurama?" he asked.

Yukina gave a small gasp and blushed, at first feeling embarrassed by his question; but humiliation quickly gave way to pessimism as she truly considered the implications of what he had just said.

"I just got accustomed to greeting everyone in a more informal manner when I was pretending to be Hiei," she explained. "But you're right, it was presumptuous and ill-mannered of me. You all treated me so differently when you thought I was a fighter, I suppose I thought you all had started to see me as…"

"As an equal?"

"As a person."

Kurama nodded.

"Are you aware of the difficulties your little game caused for everyone else around you?" he asked.

Yukina nodded.

"Lord Koenma told me he should have arrested me for what I did," she said.

"Do you know what spirit world prison is like?" Kurama asked. "It's a terrible place. Just ask your brother. You are lucky Koenma has decided to be lenient. But you should know that, after the trouble you have caused for him, he won't be so lenient if you try anything similar any time soon."

Yukina nodded solemnly.

"And Botan told me Lord Koenma was angry because she let me get the book," she continued. "And she told me I may have ruined your friendship with Hiei – which I very much hope isn't true."

Yukina waited for Kurama to correct her, but he remained silent and continued watching her with the same look on his face, and so she continued.

"And Hiei told me I was reckless, and Kuwabara seemed so sad when we spoke and Yusuke… Spoke to me about the assets I brought to the team…"

Yukina touched a finger to her lips, the vague idea that what she had just said was inadvertently a double entendre passing through her mind – and the fact that she even recognised that was, surely, a sign that she had spent too much time around Yusuke, she thought to herself.

"Good," Kurama said. "If Koenma, Botan and Hiei have already expressed some of my concerns, it saves me the bother of going over them again with you now."

Yukina snapped back to attention.

"Sh-should I leave now?" she asked.

"No," Kurama replied. "I said they'd only expressed some of my concerns, not all of them. There's still the little matter of those illustrations and writings you hide under your bed and the things you did and said around me during the last eleven days."

"Oh," Yukina said, her eyes lowering to the sand between them.

"I have spent a good deal of my time, both last night and this morning, rehashing our exchanges in demon world, and I've come to realise quite a lot that I never knew about you before. For example, do you remember what you said you me while you were under the influence of the poitin?"

Yukina turned her head from Kurama, looking out across the sea with wide eyes as panic began to set in.

"I'll take your silence to mean the answer is no," Kurama said after she did not respond within an almost uncomfortable length of time. "You told me about what happened to you when you returned to the ice village. At the time you told the story, I thought you were Hiei, and the events you explained seemed unreasonable: whilst I don't doubt that the women of your village would have done such a thing to Hiei, I do doubt that Hiei would have endured it as long as you did, or with a burning desire to be welcomed back amongst the ice maiden clan. I didn't know you had become so unwelcome, such an outcast in your own home. All those things Tsubara said to you, she knew she was addressing you Yukina, didn't she? Did you tell her or did she have a way of seeing through your disguise?"

"I told her," Yukina quietly replied, feeling strangely numb inside again. "I told them all. They didn't trust us because we were men. They didn't trust me because I was an emiko they had already ousted from their society. I revealed myself to them because I thought I might regain their trust. When I heard Rikka saying to you, back when we first rescued her from the troll and his henchmen, that she thought you were a woman disguised as a man, it made me realise that nothing had changed. They still tell the children the same stories. Most of the adults still believe those stories. I only know better myself because I escaped the confines of the village and met different people from different cultures. But… Telling them who I really was didn't help as much as I thought it might. Even then only some of them trusted me."

"You stood alongside them and fought with them as we fled Dardani, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"I see. But there is one thing I don't quite understand: after what they did to you when you returned to the ice village, why did you still feel any need to protect the ice maidens from what was happening to them?"

"They aren't all bad. And even if they were, I'd still have done it to save Miss Rui, the children and grandma."

Kurama gave Yukina a fleeting, suspicious look.

"She's not really my grandmother," Yukina explained, assuming the look he had given her was a questioning one. "We all call her that anyway. And, for the record, she did actually see through my disguise."

"I thought perhaps the eccentricity was genetic," Kurama muttered.

"What?" Yukina echoed.

"So when you first decided to take such drastic measures to imitate Hiei, your only intention was to get us to escort you to the real Hiei so that you could cure him of the virus?" Kurama asked.

"Yes," she replied, forgetting his earlier remark.

"You had no other motive?"

"No."

"It didn't seem that way. You seemed determined to prove yourself to us."

"That wasn't why I did it – but as Hiei, I was able to tell you that I don't like it that you all think I'm weak and defenceless."

"You said and did a lot of things under your disguise you might never have otherwise said or done."

"I suppose that's true. I suppose I was still scared of the consequences of admitting many of the things that I did."

"You were always aware that we would one day discover that it had been you, and not Hiei, saying and doing those things, weren't you?"

"Yes. I always intended to tell the truth as soon as I was sure that Hiei was safe."

"Then you don't regret anything you revealed about yourself or your feelings?"

"No. Do you?"

Kurama turned to meet Yukina's eyes, his expression stern and unchanging.

"You called me shallow. You said I was unfeeling," she said, forcing herself to keep her eyes on his despite wanting to look away as his face remained unchanged. "Do you regret saying that now that you've been proven wrong?"

"No," Kurama replied.

Yukina felt a deep pain in her chest and that horrible sensation of the threat of tears, which, upon learned instinct, she fought to contain with all her might.

"It was what I thought of your race and of you at the time, I can't regret expressing something I thought was correct at the time that I said it," Kurama continued.

"So… Do you still believe it to be true?" Yukina managed to ask him before she was once more forced to hold her breath to contain her emotions.

"No," he replied. "And it's perhaps only fair to tell you that I thought that of you and your kind, but I never truly believed it. Just as you have been taught to hold back your tears and distrust men, fox demons have their own questionable traditions, and one of them is that we convince ourselves that the ice maidens we hunt don't suffer from what we do to them. I only ever hunted ice maidens once, and if I had stopped to think for even a second that I might be causing them any emotional distress, I never could have felt the urge to do so again."

"Oh. Well, that's, um, nice to know."

"You also expressed a lot of interest in my life as Shuichi, living in this realm. Do you really understand my commitment to this life?"

Yukina shook her head, silently relieved at the slight change in both the topic of discussion and Kurama's tone, as both were helping her relax and forget about her own sorrow.

"My human mother saved my life and nurtured me back to health," Kurama said. "I owe her a great debt of gratitude for that. I can't ever tell her what she has done for me or how grateful I am, and so I have chosen to repay her the only way I know how: I will be the son she wants, because I know that brings her joy. I am committed to live in living world as Shuichi until my mother passes on. That ought to still be thirty or so years from now. Do you understand that, in that time, this body I possess will age like any other human?"

Yukina nodded.

"Do you also understand that, when my mother does pass, I will leave living world and return to demon world?"

Yukina nodded again.

"I will return as Yoko. Do you understand that?"

Yukina paused.

"You say only so many of your clan were willing to trust you again after all you've done, but do you think any of them – even your good friend Rui – would look upon you kindly if you took a fox demon as a lover?"

"I-I don't know," Yukina faintly replied. "I hadn't thought of that."

"I didn't think you had," Kurama said. "It seems that forward planning isn't a strong point in your family. Your mother didn't think ahead when she laid down with Hiei's father, your brother never plans anything and you are showing signs of being equally as thoughtless."

"If I wasn't an ice maiden, o-or if you weren't a fox demon, would that change how you feel?"

Kurama's eyebrows shot up as though she had said something surprisingly, and Yukina became a little embarrassed as she tried to think of anything controversial she may have inadvertently said.

"Our backgrounds aren't the most pressing issue here," he said. "You disguised yourself as my closest friend and ally and then seduced me into kissing you. I had my hands under your clothes, I almost–"

Kurama stopped himself abruptly, one hand clawed in the air between himself and Yukina. Yukina blinked at his fingers curiously, silently wondering what the rest of his sentence might have sounded like to have needed such a gesture to help him express it.

"Hiei and I trust each other," he said, relaxing his hand and lowering it to his side once more. "He is furious that I kissed you, and rightly so. Either way it was a horrible breach of his trust, because either I did it knowing it was you, the sister he's so protective of, or I did it thinking it was him, which is insane."

It was then Yukina's turn to raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"Insane?" she repeated.

"Yes," Kurama confirmed.

"So then you did know it was me?"

"No."

"But you just said…?"

"Yukina, you nearly destroyed my friendship with Hiei. He has lost all trust in me, and I can't explain what happened. I was never attracted to Hiei, but I can't make him understand that."

"If you were never attracted to Hiei, why did you kiss me when you thought I was him?"

"Because, during the time that you were Hiei, I did become attracted to him. It was just… What he became."

"But it was me."

"I know."

"Oh."

Kurama turned from Yukina, his eyebrows drawing together into a frown, his eyes watching the waves ahead of them. Yukina watched his profile intently, waiting for him to say something more, anxious to hear how he would explain what he had just seemed to say but equally terrified that he might say something she would not like.

"Those illustrations you drew and those words you wrote about me," he eventually said. "They were very romantic."

Yukina began blushing furiously, but she kept watching Kurama, partly because she had to see his face as he spoke and partly because she had the courage to look at him while he was looking away from her and could not see her reaction.

"Do you think it's romantic that our first date was in the dreariest part of spirit world – a place neither of us can ever call home or be welcomed – and it involved a meal of fetid wild mushrooms and bitter wild berries, we spoke at cross-purposes and then I kissed you under the illusion that you were someone else?"

"Our first date?" Yukina quietly replied.

"From the stacks of paperwork you'd been concealing in your bedroom, I thought perhaps you might have imagined a more romantic setting for the first time we kissed. Surely you didn't imagine that it would happen after you disguised yourself as Hiei, turned the relationship between the ice maidens and the rest of demon world on its head and then took to spirit world to rescue your friend Rui from a fox demon?"

"No, I couldn't ever have imagined any of those things under any circumstances, and certainly not if I was thinking of you."

"Normal girls go on dinner dates with boys, where the boy tells terrible jokes to try to disguise his nerves, they watch a movie or a show that neither of them enjoy and ultimately they kiss in some vaguely romantic setting. But you're not a normal girl, are you Yukina?"

"You're not a normal boy, Mister Kurama."

"I just want to know how exactly you feel about what happened two nights ago in that cave in spirit world."

Yukina started to smile, and, as though he had sensed the change in her expression, Kurama turned his head to look directly at her again.

"Well, actually, you did tell one terrible joke that night, we did see an interesting show on Justice Road thanks to Yusuke and Kuwabara's antics, and then there were such pretty glow-bugs illuminating the cave when we kissed. So maybe it was like a first date."

Kurama's eyes and lips thinned and Yukina's smile faded.

"And had I never met you before that "first date", my lasting impression of you now would be that you are a reckless liar," he said.

"It wasn't all lies," she quietly replied. "Some of it was true. Most of it was true – I was speaking as myself, I was just using Hiei's voice."

"Because you were too scared to speak as yourself using your own voice?"

"I suppose so, yes."

"Are you sure you only did this to save Hiei?"

"Well, maybe I did also want to prove to everyone else that I'm strong too. Sometimes I think everyone forgets who and what I am. Or maybe they don't forget, maybe they just never really understood in the first place. Either way, it gets so frustrating sometimes."

"So you did this to help Hiei and to prove that you're strong, is that it?"

"Yes. I know it was a silly, dangerous way to prove myself, but I really never expected things to get as complicated or dangerous as they did, and… I thought I'd always be safe with you and Kazuma and Yusuke so close by me."

"No other motivations then?"

Yukina searched Kurama's eyes, but she found no clue in the stern and slightly detached look on his face.

"What are you implying?" she asked when she failed to think of the answer herself.

"What are you inferring?" he responded.

Yukina blinked owlishly and Kurama quietly sighed, turning his head from her to look out to sea again. His eyes were still thinned and there was a general tightness about his face, and although his expression was not particularly terrifying or enraged, he was still managing to convey quite a disconcerting aura. It was upsetting to see – and doubly so when Yukina considered that she was the cause for his grief – but still she could not take her eyes off of him. She had watched him afar for so long, only managing to steal glances at him when he got so close in the past. She had partly hoped that, during her time disguised as Hiei, the novelty of being able to look directly at Kurama whilst standing within ten feet of him would wear off; but apparently it had not.

And neither had her desire to touch him. She had often wondered how he would react if she just did it. Botan would do something that bold, she thought, and Kurama had been quite taken with Botan. Given the tenseness in his expression and body, she reasoned that this was probably not a good time to try her luck with such an endeavour, but the want remained regardless.

Suddenly Kurama's head turned sharply and his eyes were on her again, almost pinning her on the spot with the intensity behind them.

"You wanted to touch me."

His voice was quiet but harsh, his words spoken through clenched teeth but painfully clear.

"H-How did you…?"

Yukina's voice faded before she could finish her question: it was stupid to ask, because Kurama always knew everything.

"You wanted to touch me, but you were too scared to," he continued. "You were scared of my rejecting you, you were scared of my ridiculing you and you were scared of how you might feel if I liked it."

"You read the things I wrote about you," she said.

"Of course I did," he replied. "I was hesitant at first – it seemed like an unjust invasion of your privacy, regardless of what we believed your circumstances to be at that time – but when "Hiei" didn't over-react and I got no definite answer about where you were or what you were doing, I had to know. I was concerned that you were unaware of the historical relationship between my clan and yours. I was worried that you had been spirited away by another fox demon, assuming that he would treat you the way you watched me treat Botan. I could have stopped sooner than I did, but I will admit that curiosity got the better of me."

Yukina lowered her head to watch her hands as she began nervously fidgeting with the material of her dress over her thighs.

"You must think I'm a foolish little child," she said, keeping her head down. "Many of my impressions of you, especially my earlier impressions of you, are quite simplistic."

"I didn't say I wasn't flattered."

Yukina lifted her head, her eyes growing wide as she watched the surf bubbling along the shoreline ahead of her.

"I believe I may have already intimated to you, during moments when I thought you were your brother, the qualities I desire in a partner," Kurama continued. "I can only be content with someone who understands who and what I am – that I am not human, but cannot be fully demon for some time yet, and that I will not change that decision under any circumstances. And I do enjoy the company of a kind and quiet girl who is polite and amiable in general, but also has another side of her, a side that she only shares with me."

Kurama turned to face Yukina and she copied his actions, their eyes meeting – and she was unsure if she was pleased or not to see that his expression had changed to an almost sly smirk.

"A girl who is gentle and reserved in company, but adventurous and daring when she gets out of her clothes and into my bed."

Yukina drew in a breath to answer him, but found herself swallowing air as emotions overtook logic. Kurama turned from her, briefly looking out to sea again before suddenly standing up and walking slowly towards the water. Yukina quickly stood up behind him, skipping the first few steps until she had brought herself to his side.

"This has been very interesting," he muttered. "I suppose there is really just one more thing I need to ask you."

Yukina tried to tell him that he could ask her anything and she would answer honestly – she was desperate to assure him that she did not make a habit of lying and deceiving others, least of all those closest to her – but again her voice failed her.

"There is still the small matter that I am much older, more worldly-wise and far more experienced than you in more things than fighting," Kurama said when she did not answer him. "You've never been with a lover before, am I right?"

She nodded, and although he did not look her way, he seemed to have noticed her gesture on the periphery of his vision.

"Then perhaps you would appreciate someone who moves a little slower than me. I'm not sure you could keep up with me."

Yukina balled her fists at her sides, awkwardness and nerves giving way to anger.

"I can keep up with you!" she snapped.

"Really?" Kurama asked, still looking and sounding far too disinterested for Yukina's liking.

"Absolutely!"

Yukina stopped half a step ahead of Kurama as he suddenly stopped walking, his eyes shifting to peer down at her at his side. She held her strong and determined stance, refusing to be relegated to the role of hapless and helpless yet again that day. Kurama slowly and smoothly turned to face her fully and she copied his actions, keeping her fists tightly clenched at her side, her jaw squared and her eyebrows drawn together.

"I'm not sure that you can," he said, his expression softening.

Despite his words, Yukina felt her resolve weakening slightly when he took on a gentle smile and she felt the warmth of his hands coming to rest on her shoulders.

"I'm not even sure that you understand," he added.

She started to tell him that she did – she was not about to endure another condescending "facts of life" lecture like the one Botan had already tried to inflict upon her earlier that day – but her words turned into a yelp of surprised as Kurama suddenly jabbed the heels of his hands into her shoulders and she found herself falling backwards. Landing in the sand was slightly less jarring than landing on solid ground would have been, but it was still unpleasant – though Yukina did not have long to dwell on the thought as she looked up and saw Kurama drop to his knees before her. She gasped and started to sit up, but he collapsed towards her, colliding with her and pinning her back down to the ground.

In the time it took her to blink and catch her breath, Yukina found herself lying flat on her back, her arms up over her head and held in place there by just one of Kurama's hands, which was enclosed around both of her wrists. As she stared up at him, feeling a little afraid and a little excited, he leaned closer to her, bending his free arm at her side and resting more of his weight on his hips, which were pressed against hers. She drew in a shuddering gasp as the ends of his hair lightly brushed against her face and he sank lower, resting the side of his face on one of her shoulders. She was confused beyond belief – his behaviour was not consistent with anything he had just said to her, but having him close, feeling his breath on her skin, she was past caring about reason.

A small, involuntary noise escaped her throat as he moved his other hand to her neck, his fingers lighting trailing down her skin to the collar of her dress. She gasped again as he shifted his head slightly and the tip of his nose touched against the other side of her neck at the same moment that his fingers curled around the collar of her dress and gave a slight tug, unhooking the top button. His hand moved lower, his fingers spreading over the area of skin he had exposed around the base of her neck, the warmth of his touch spreading through her entire body. She vaguely felt the second button of her dress pop open, but her attention was elsewhere as Kurama's lips made contact with her skin, softly kissing the side of her neck just below her ear. She closed her eyes and sighed, relaxing into him and even allowing herself to smile as he kissed her again on her jaw. She opened her eyes again when she felt his lips on hers, but the contact was brief and ended the instant her eyes were on his. He touched the tip of his nose to hers and rested his chin against hers, leaving their lips close but not quite close enough to kiss. He was looking into her eyes, one hand still holding her hands up over her head, the other still stroking at the skin around the base of her neck.

He whispered something brief, the look in his eyes changing slightly.

"Mwhuh?" Yukina grunted in response, her mind clouded over by desire and failing to correctly process either his words or the shift in his manner.

"I think I have the answers I was looking for," he said, his voice slightly louder and his words infinitely clearer.

"What?"

Yukina took a moment to awaken from her daze of bliss, not immediately registering that Kurama was moving away from her. She sat up, still a little hazy, in time to see him walk back across the sand towards the trees. She called out to him, scrambling to her feet and taking a few hurried strides after him, making little progress as she slipped in the sand; but he had disappeared from sight by the time she reached the grass. She stopped there, one hand clutched to her chest, her knuckles pressed against her pounding heart, and watched the point where he had disappeared. She could still feel the warmth of his touch on her skin and the softness of his lips against hers, a vague tingling sensation still delighting her senses. But the giver of that delight was gone, and she had no idea why he had stopped or why he had left.

Yukina paused. She had no idea why Kurama had stopped, but she had even less clue about why he had started. Since her arrival on the beach his tone and demeanour had been incredibly negative and cold, and she had been sure that he had already decided that he hated her. She supposed then that the sensible thing to have done would have been to have forced him to stop and demand to know his reasoning for taking such action: but she had been so caught up in the moment, so contented and so pleasantly surprised that he was being affectionate with her that the contradictory nature of his actions had not occurred to her whilst he was still with her.

Yukina dropped her hands to her sides, her shoulders slouching forwards and her head drooping down as she realised that maybe the point Kurama – and indeed all the others – had kept trying to impress upon her about how she was naïve was perhaps correct. Maybe that was even why he had just done what he had: to show her how ridiculous she was.

With a sigh of defeat, she began to drag her feet back across the grass towards the forest. The day was wearing on, but she was in no hurry to return to the temple. She was certain that everyone else would still be there, and, for the first time in a long time, she actually welcomed the prospect of spending the rest of her existence alone in the temple with only the wild birds and rabbits for company. She was exhausted after being the focus of everyone's attention that day – which was ironic, she thought with a wry smile, when she considered that, twelve days ago, she had been quietly angered that nobody ever paid her any attention at all.

She tried to think of something pleasant – a trick Rui had taught her as a child if she ever felt like she might cry – but her mind did not remain on any one thing for long, and, although she did not really want to, she found herself reliving the interchange she had just shared with Kurama on the beach. And, of all the things he had said and done, the first one her mind wandered to was his question about how she had imagined their first date to be. She had not answered him, but she had, of course, imagined what a first date with him might be like. She had imagined it many times, and she had also imagined more than just a first date. Though, as she thought about it again then, she realised that her previous ideas about dates were all very similar to her idea of a first date.

She had played the scenario out in her mind many times, and, although the specific events or conversations had changed slightly over time, the general format of her daydream had always been consistent. She imagined that she was alone in the temple late one afternoon, and she heard a car approaching. When she looked out the window she saw that it was Kurama, dressed in a shirt and tie like he did when he was coming home from work. She ran to meet him out on the porch, stopping at the railing as he approached. He smiled at her in that gentle way he always did, but this time he was smiling directly at her, just for her. He stopped in front of her, looking up at her from the ground. She asked him why he had come, the others were not there, after all, and he told her he was there just to see her. He was going out to dinner and he wanted her to come with him.

She ran back inside to get changed – in her fantasy, she had a pretty dress in her wardrobe, the sort of dress Keiko wore on special occasions – and Kurama waited outside for her. She changed into the dress and wore her hair loose – in her fantasy her hair was still long and its original colour, rather than being the butchered, discoloured mess it had become since her recent escapades – and when she stepped out onto the porch again Kurama's smile grew at the sight of her. She moved over to the steps and he met her there, holding out a hand for her. She took his hand – they were touching hands for the first time ever – and, once she had descended the steps, their palms moved together more closely, their fingers intertwining – they were holding hands for the first time ever.

Kurama led her to his car, where he opened the door for her to get in. He took her to a restaurant with a terrace, where they sat at a table for two, illuminated by candle-light, and, as they ate, they retold stories about the old days, laughing at the silly fights Yusuke and Kuwabara had gotten into. When they had finished eating they went for a walk in a park, and, as it was getting dark, Kurama gave Yukina his coat – which was illogical, as she was far more tolerant of the cold than he was, but it was her fantasy, and she wanted it that way. He also gave her a bunch of flowers that were too beautiful to be from living world, and then he took her back home to the temple.

And, after she had climbed the steps up to the porch again, Yukina leaned over the railings and she and Kurama shared their first kiss. It was simple, gentle, warm and sweet.

And the second, third, fourth and fifth date followed a similar pattern, only the excitement of them was in the knowledge that Kurama was her lover and no longer just a surprise first date.

But, she realised then, her thoughts had never strayed beyond holding hands and kissing – and even the kissing had been the simple, brief lip to lip contact like she had often sneakily witnessed Yusuke and Keiko performing when they bid each other goodbye and they thought no-one was watching.

Reality, Yukina thought darkly, was bitterly different to fantasy.

In her fantasy, Kurama had first touched her hand offering to help her down the steps to go on a date with him; but in reality, Kurama had first touched her hand when he had made her stop stirring his tea the day Koenma and Botan gathered everyone at the temple to discuss the demons in spirit world and the virus in demon world.

In her fantasy, she had first held hands with Kurama in that sweet, fingers-interlocked way she liked to imagine, as he had walked her to his car to start their first, flawless date; but in reality, Kurama had first held her hand that way when they had jumped through the manufactured portal joining demon world to spirit world, and, when Kuwabara had bluntly asked why they were holding hands, Yukina had been forced to act like she was not ecstatically happy that Kurama was holding her hand "the way couples do on a date", as Kuwabara had put it. Although, when she thought back on that moment, she realised that it had been Kurama who had grabbed onto her hand as they jumped. But, she thought darkly, she was equally to blame, as she had been the one to knit her fingers through his so that she could hold his hand the way she had always imagined doing.

In her fantasy, she had first kissed Kurama delicately and innocently at the end of a date. In reality, she had first kissed him when he thought she was her brother, and he had made an inappropriate joke about the contact being "accidental". And, unlike her fantasy, where the kiss was that and nothing more, in reality the first kiss almost immediately turned into Kurama clumsily grabbed at her clothing and kissing her in an almost aggressive manner that she had never really thought about.

"Huh, I'm an idiot," Yukina muttered to herself, barely even noticing that she was still inadvertently using the language and word structure she had relied on during her time pretending to be Hiei.

She was too caught up in the conclusion she had drawn to care about how she had said it aloud. The others were right after all, she decided. She was an idiot, who had been brought up on an isolated, floating rock full of idiots, and Kurama had been completely right to reject her on the basis that she did not understand what he wanted or needed from a lover. As much it pained her to admit it, it seemed that perhaps she could not keep up with him.

Tears threatened again and Yukina grabbed at the first coherent distraction her mind offered her to stave off her emotions: she was not the only one who had shown another side of herself during the mission, Kurama had not exactly lived up to her expectations either. She had, prior to spending every waking minute of a span of eleven days in his company, always considered him to be literally perfect, but he had shown his fair share of flaws and confessed to more than a few follies during the mission. And, thinking about the Kurama she now knew, Yukina could no longer even put him into the context of her previous fantasies about him.

But strangely, despite him not living up to her fantasies, despite him being far less than the paradigm of perfection she had imagined him to be, Yukina found that she only liked Kurama all the more. Which she was slightly disappointed to discover, as she had been hoping to find a reason to dislike him and distance herself from him, to save herself the heartache of spending the next several decades pining for him as he returned to treating her the way he always had for the last thirty-seven years – barely acknowledging her existence, and when he did, giving her that blank look he did not give to anyone else. Even Keiko brought a flicker of amiable recognition into Kurama's eyes and smile, but when he had looked at Yukina in the past, she had been left feeling like a stale carrot. He had always been polite enough towards her, but he had never exactly treated her like a living creature, never tried to make conversation or recognise the smiles she greeted him with – which had, frankly, made Botan's earlier claim about them having known each other for thirty-seven years seem true.

Though that, she supposed, all related back to Kurama's belief that she, as an ice maiden, was "shallow and unfeeling". Maybe now that he knew otherwise, maybe now that he had at least admitted to having always, on some subconscious level, known otherwise, he might be different.

Or maybe not.

Yukina had become so caught up in her own thoughts and so unaware of just how slow her pace had been that, by the time she reached the fork in the forest path, the sun was already below the treetops and the sky was darkening.

And in that moment, Yukina realised the short-sightedness of her decision.

She paused at the split in the path long enough to admonish herself that she had yet again done something silly without thinking before starting along the path that led to the temple steps – which were usually visible in the distance from that point, but, due to the poor light levels, were obscured from view. And, although she had started along the path at a quicker pace, she shortly stopped again, slowly looking about herself as a worrying thought occurred to her. She quickly scanned the trees around her and then surveyed the ground around the tree trunks, swallowing hard as her eyes confirmed what her ears had already alerted her to: she was suddenly completely alone.

Yukina turned on the spot, but saw nothing else to disprove the nagging worry that was starting to creep up on her. On her second rotation she noticed a panicked flurry of movement way back the way she had just come as a jumbled flock of birds tore through the sky away from her. Logically she could think of only one thing that would scare every bird and animal out of the forest, but it seemed so unlikely. Rather than take any chances, she continued on her way back home, quickening her pace again – but again she made little progress before she stopped again, this time abruptly, almost falling over in shock as she suddenly became aware of a terrible presence. She did not have to wait long to receive a visual confirmation of what she was feeling, as a disturbance in the air immediately in front of her started kicking up eddies of dead leaves around her ankles. She stumbled back a step as something appeared, seemingly from nowhere, in the air ahead of her, feeling its way around before shooting outwards forcefully.

Yukina yelped and fell back onto her rear-end as the leathery length of a vine stretched out over her, sprouting outwards from the point where her head had been only moments earlier. But the fact that the plant was growing and clawing at the space she had been occupying was the least of her concerns: the plant was growing out of nowhere. One end of it was leafy and spreading, the other end was a thick stem that ended suddenly in the middle of the air. It was clearly a demon plant, and Yukina briefly wondered if it was growing through a portal, as there was a distinct shimmer and haze in the air around the point it was sprouting from. But she did not have long to contemplate her theory as another length of vine shot out of the air a few feet below the first and she was forced to scramble out of its reach. She scurried awkwardly off the path, pressing her back to a tree and trying to control her erratic breathing as she watched more and more vines whip out and spread, until soon she was looking at a tangled green mess in the middle of the forest path. The mound of twisted plant pulsed a few times before sinking slowly into the ground.

As quickly as the plant had appeared and grown in a mound before her eyes it had sunk so far into the ground that all that remained was a clump of about twenty vines, each thicker than Yukina's body. And, although the plant itself looked quite harmless slumped into the ground, what it had done was something truly terrible. Yukina took a few cautious steps forwards, glancing back and forth between the two holes the plant had created. One hole was in the ground and the other was literally in the air ahead of her. The hole in the ground was glowing red and carried the distinctive smell of demon world, and the hole in the air was a jovial yellow and pink glow that could only be attributed to spirit world.

Yukina hardened her resolve and picked her way over to the edge of the two holes, first peering into the one leading into spirit world. She could not see anything beyond a stretch of featureless land, and so she turned her attention to the hole in the ground, lowering herself to all fours and steadying herself on one of the vines to peer down into it. The vines stretched far down below her and they were still growing, apparently reaching for the ground, turning themselves into handy access points between all three realms – the spirit, human and demon worlds.

This was clearly something she needed to tell someone else about, but Yukina paused as she considered how to continue. Her first instinct was that she should tell Kurama, as he was the expert on demon plants; but she was not sure that she wanted to see him or that he would even listen to her. Perhaps she should tell Yusuke, she thought. He was the most experienced of matters affecting all three worlds, and he at least had accepted her as a person. But before her moment of indecision could end, Yukina was robbed of all thoughts of the vine and the damage it had done as she felt a pair of hands on her hips, and the distinct presence of something malevolent radiating from a point behind her.

"How perfect," a voice whispered. "I didn't expect you to be here, least of all so helpfully positioned…"

As the hands slid up her sides Yukina froze in terror: she had not seen him yet, but she did not need to see him to know that it was Fumio.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** It's the final showdown (and this time, I swear it is) between everyone at odds – Hiei and Kurama, Yukina and Fumio, and so much more, all finally dealt with. It's not the last chapter though (someone just shoot me). **Chapter 34 – Teleportation Necessity**


	34. Teleportation Necessity

So pretty major adult warning for this chapter. I got a bit carried away with the Yukina/Fumio scenes. I was writing Fumio's dialogue with a reasonable frame of mind, but when I re-read it and discovered a few unintentional double entendres and I've just left them in there, as sick as they are. I guess this would be the chapter where I can fully justify saying this fic needs a more mature rating attached to it.

And again, I suck at finishing fics. I'm getting worse at it instead of better. Seriously.

Kinda long chapter (by my standards, so super-long by normal standards).

* * *

 **Chapter 34: Teleportation Necessity**

Kurama paused at the base of the temple steps, wincing slightly as he peered up their length. He already knew – demon senses or not – what would be waiting for him when he got to the top, and, as much as he felt that he probably deserved it, it would still be a jarringly unpleasant start of a generally unpleasant process.

He decided to wait where he was a little longer, his hands in his pockets, and his eyes on the particular point where he knew his problem was awaiting him.

The last few days – or perhaps even the last few weeks – had been quite trying, and although Kurama had suspected, some several weeks earlier, that he would end up at odds with Hiei, he had not expected it to be because of Yukina. In fact, Kurama thought to himself, twelve days ago, he could not possibly have predicted anything in his life changing drastically because of Yukina. She was someone he had never really given a second thought to personally. She had always been more of an extension of Hiei or Kuwabara or Botan before then. Yukina was Hiei's sister, and for years her name had simply been another means of teasing Hiei, who was – as Kurama was now learning the hard way – viciously over-protective of his twin. Yukina was just another symbol that Kuwabara fought for, along with cats and second-rate rock music. Yukina was Botan's obi fixer and kimono seamstress. And, just once, Yukina had been a delicately pretty young ice maiden in an intoxicating field of ice village flowers.

Until the day before, Kurama's biggest concern had been that he was going to end up fighting Hiei for Botan, since it seemed that both of them were pursuing her. He felt a bit foolish to have learned that, apparently, Hiei and Botan had been conducting an infrequent affair with each other for quite some time without his knowledge, and his recent inner anger at Hiei for going after someone he wanted for himself felt totally unwarranted, as it appeared that Hiei had started his affairs with Botan before Kurama himself had really given any thought to approaching the ferry girl himself. Which, Kurama thought as he shifted his weight and narrowed his eyes slightly, raised another issue in his mind: Botan had been the object of his affection because he had chosen her specifically, not because he had felt anything for her at any time in their previous acquaintance. She was the convenient choice for him as he grew lonely and in need of partnership in his human life – someone who understood that he was part demon, understood that he had obligations in demon world, understood who and what his friends were, and understood that he would eventually return to his life as Yoko. But she was not someone who had caught his attention or attracted him or seduced him in any way.

Kurama paused long enough to consider some of the previous, more lasting, relationships he had had in his life as a demon. His first few relationships had been only with other fox demons, but as he had grown older and sought out power, ultimately joining Yomi and his band of thieves, Kurama had met and courted demons of all varieties – though never an ice demon, and certainly never an ice maiden. But the one thing that had been consistent across all of his previous relationships had been that he had at least been attracted to or drawn to the women on some level. He had always been the one to do the chasing and he had always desired his partners for more reasons than just that they were a practical solution to an impractical problem. He supposed then it would have been quite unfair on both himself and Botan if he had managed to win her affections, as she deserved better and he was cheating himself out of the joy of a meaningful alliance by choosing convenience over passion.

And Yukina was an exception to the rule too, for more reasons than one. She had pursued him, which was a first, she was an ice maiden, which was also a first, and she was as unaware of demon world flirtation techniques as she was of everything else related to any society outside of the sheltered one she had been brought up in. Whereas other demon girls pouted and turned away from kisses, or turned any attempt at affection into a physical fight – sometimes quite a violent one, depending on the nature of the woman in question – Yukina simply melted into every touch, gazed up at him lovingly and willingly gave herself to him with a level of trust that was completely unnatural for an ice maiden in the hands of a fox demon.

It was incredibly bizarre and had taken some amount of thinking on Kurama's part to overcome absurdity and connect with the reality of the situation: regardless of how different her approach to love was and regardless of the fact that their races traditionally put them at opposition with each other, there was no denying that she had a strength of feeling for him that went beyond a simple childish crush. It was clear from her illustrations and poetry that she had been studying him quite closely for some time – though he had been unaware of it – and it was also clear that she understood his situation about as well as any of the others in their circle of friends. In fact, he thought, her own situation was not so different to his: she was a demon relegated to living in the living world with nobody around her who was really suited to provide her with lasting companionship. After his initial mulling over of Yukina and everything she had done recently – which, despite her claiming otherwise, he still believed that helping Hiei had not been her only motivation for going undercover – Kurama had been left wondering if he could even think of her as a mate.

With a light sigh, Kurama started to climb the temple steps. As he climbed he again thought about what Yukina had endured during the eleven days she had pretended to be Hiei. Everyone around her had treated her like Hiei, which must have been difficult, and she had seen a side of Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama himself that she never would have otherwise known. Yusuke would never have called her names and roughed her up and torn off her clothes in a hot spring if he had known that she was Yukina and not Hiei. Kuwabara would never have let loose with a variety of bodily functions, he would never have been so rough or rude with her and surely he would have been devastated knowing that anyone else would ever be that way with Yukina – but he too had of course not known the truth. And Kurama himself would never have spoken about Hiei's relation to Yukina had he known it was her, he would never have spoken his opinions of the ice maidens and he would never have put his hands on her.

Kurama briefly wondered how things might have been if he had found out about Yukina's feelings another way. Maybe Botan would have found Yukina's secret stash of artwork by some other means and reported back to him. What would he have done then? How would he have felt?

Kurama reached the top step, and, just as he had expected, Hiei dropped out of a tree by the temple gate, landing in Kurama's path, his arms at his sides as though his hands were hovering over pistols at his hips, his eyes thinned and distrusting as they glared up at Kurama.

"I hope you explained to her kindly that you cannot take her as your lover," Hiei growled.

Kurama sighed and Hiei swung a fist at him. Unlike the last three times they had had this exact confrontation in the last twenty-four hours, this time Kurama blocked the blow.

"You have to stop," Kurama told him when he saw Hiei look horrified by his action. "This isn't getting us anywhere."

"Why didn't you tell her?" Hiei asked.

"Because I can't," Kurama replied.

"Can't or won't?"

"Won't, if I'm being honest. Hiei, she clearly has feelings for me. She spent time travelling and fighting alongside me, and despite my often brutal candour during that time, she still seems keen."

"She's blinded by infatuation. It's because of the way you look. She doesn't understand because she can't see you for what you really are. Show her your true form and then see how she feels."

"Hiei, she has seen my true form. She saw it at the Dark Tournament and she saw it during the mission. She drew pictures of my true form. She's perfectly aware of what I am."

Hiei snatched his fist back but his expression did not soften any.

"Sit down," Kurama said, indicating the top step behind him.

"No," Hiei replied.

Kurama sighed and moved over to sit down onto the top step, looking back over his shoulder expectantly.

"Sit down," he said again.

"I know how this works, fox," Hiei said. "This is what you do. You make me sit down and then you find a way to use your words to make me do something I don't want to do. I'll stand."

"Sit down Hiei," Kurama said.

"I prefer to stand," Hiei replied.

"Now you're just being awkward. Sit down."

"You get less blood clots standing."

Kurama sighed.

"Fine, stand," he conceded. "Hiei, I've given this much thought–"

"You just kissed her," Hiei cut him off.

"Yes I did."

"Again."

"Yes, that's correct."

"Without my permission."

"Do I need your permission?"

"Yes."

"Hiei that's absurd."

"You're absurd! You had your chance, and you refused it! You can't change your mind now! It's too late!"

Kurama gave Hiei a flat look, but Hiei was clearly too angered to notice or think logically, and so he was forced to question him.

"What are you talking about, Hiei?"

"I know short-term memory is a real weakness for you old timers, but see if you can tap into the back part of your brain and recall this: after we rescued Yukina from Tarukane, in the day or two she lingered in living world, unsure of where to go or what to do, I offered her to you. You said no."

Kurama's eyebrows shot up, but Hiei still did not respond.

"Hiei, I… I don't even know what to say to that!" he said.

"I offered you Yukina as a mate and you said you didn't want her," Hiei replied. "You said she was too young, you said she wasn't experienced enough for you, you said she was too dull and you said you would never put your hands on your best friend's sister! Or have you forgotten that already, old man?"

"Hiei, we seem to be talking at cross purposes here. If you remember correctly, at that time, all you said to me was "Yukina has nowhere to go now, you should take her home with you", to which I replied, if you recall, that I could not. I was still in high school, I couldn't have just taken home a blue-haired girl who looked barely old enough to be in middle school and expected my mother to take her in. You only qualified it after Yukina returned during the Dark Tournament, after you saw her healing Kuwabara's wounds whilst he simpered up to her. Only then did you say that you had been offering her to me as a lover and not just as someone in need of a place to stay."

"The timeline is irrelevant: you couldn't even give her a home to stay in back when you first met her, and when she returned during the Dark Tournament you said she was too young, too inexperienced, too dull and off-limits because of her relation to me!"

Kurama stood abruptly, losing patience himself.

"Hiei, I can give you three incredibly good reasons right now why I couldn't have accepted Yukina as a lover, back when I first met her and during the Dark Tournament," he said.

"You already gave me four!" Hiei snapped back. "One: too young, two: too inexperienced, three: too dull and four: off-limits!"

"One: I'm not a baby-sitter or some sort of sexual pawn who accepts lost little girls in need of companionship, regardless of who is offering them or how," Kurama sternly replied. "Two: Kuwabara clearly had feelings for her and he is a friend, I would never have pursued a woman a friend of mine was attracted to – because that's something friends do, Hiei. And, most importantly of all, three: Yukina is your sister, not your property, you cannot go around deciding her fate for her or trying to hand her over to who you think she should give her heart to."

"She's my sister, she's my responsibility."

"The very most you can claim is a duty of care–"

"I'm claiming that."

"Which doesn't warrant you dictating her life to her–"

"I'm her duty of carer."

"And you sacrificed the right to even claim a duty of care the day you denied her."

"What?"

"Hiei, she gave you the chance to be honest the day we left living world to return to demon world to train for the demon world tournament, and you refused her. She gave you the ideal opportunity to tell her who you really are, and you didn't take it. You gave up your right to act as her counsel that day. Do you understand?"

Hiei did not answer, but, as far as Kurama was concerned, the fire demon's silence was the loudest and clearest reply he could give.

"Hiei, when none of us were looking, Yukina grew up," he said gently. "She's endured far more suffering than you or I can fully understand, and she's done it with a quiet dignity that demands respect. She was terrified the whole time she was pretending to be you – anything could have gone horribly wrong for her at any time – but she fought through it. She braved it all to save your life, and in the process, she saved the lives of Yusuke, Kuwabara, me and the entire population of the ice village. I can't say she didn't occasionally betray her true self or that she never let her emotions over-rule her common sense, but, considering it was her first time working with a team to overcome an enemy and complete a complex mission, she did incredibly well. Her first time, Hiei. I seem to remember that one of my other team mates, on our seventh mission together, stabbed the Shadow Sword right through me."

Hiei turned his head slightly, avoiding looking directly at Kurama, which Kurama had long learnt was Hiei's way of admitting guilt.

"The sweet and fair little girl we all knew has grown into a brave, independent, curious and quite wonderful woman, Hiei," Kurama continued. "It's just unfortunate that you weren't afforded the same opportunity Kuwabara, Yusuke and I were to see it for yourself."

"You do understand that you can't be with her," Hiei said, meeting Kurama's eyes again. "Not intimately, anyway. If you do, you'll end up forcing her to birth a monster just like me."

Kurama smiled in spite of himself.

"It's not funny, Kurama!" Hiei snapped irritably.

"I understand the situation Hiei," Kurama assured him. "I have thought this through very carefully."

"Then why are we still talking about it?" Hiei asked, his tone becoming bitter.

"I had hoped for your approval."

"It doesn't seem as though you need it. You seem to have this all planned out already, and you always follow through with your clever little plans, don't you?"

"You're right, I don't need your approval. But I should like to have it anyway."

"Hn."

"Thank you Hiei. That means a lot to me."

"I didn't say anything."

Kurama shrugged and Hiei growled and ground his teeth.

"If you break her heart, I'll break you!" he blurted out suddenly.

"That's fair enough," Kurama agreed, nodding his head.

"I'll cut off your tail and post it to those witches in the ice village!" Hiei added.

Kurama briefly eyed over Hiei, one eyebrow twitching involuntarily.

"What?" Hiei asked, detecting the movement.

"Nothing," Kurama lied.

Hiei looked less than satisfied with Kurama's response, but said nothing, instead sitting down at Kurama's side. Kurama watched him for a few seconds expectantly, and eventually Hiei turned to him, his expression looking suddenly pained. Kurama started to ask him if something else was bothering him, but was cut off as a hand slapped him sharply over the back of the head, throwing a section of his hair over his face. He turned sharply to see Botan standing over him, her hands on her hips and her face twisted with anger.

"I've been hearing terrible things about you, Mister Fox!" she snapped.

"…What?" Kurama muttered as he tried to smooth his hair back over the point of impact.

"Hn, it's always this way with her," Hiei muttered. "Just be blunt, or she'll never get to the point."

"Yukina is a good and decent little girl, and you'd better behave yourself around her!" Botan continued.

"She's hardly a little girl, Botan," Kurama corrected her. "I think that's the lesson we all should have learnt from the little stunt she pulled."

"Don't lie to me like that!" Botan shot back.

"E-excuse me?"

"Don't sit there with your pretty hair and your well-polished shoes and try to tell me that you didn't know that Hiei was a woman this whole time!"

Hiei glowered up at Botan dangerously, but her attention was solely fixed on Kurama.

"Botan, you didn't realise that Yukina had disguised herself as Hiei either," he pointed out. "In fact, you were the last of us to fully grasp the fact that the Hiei we had all been working with for eleven days was in fact Yukina."

"That's not true," Botan replied.

"You groped her with your foot, you licked her ear and you asked her if she wanted to watch you get wet and soapy," Hiei interrupted. "You thought she was me, just the same as everyone else!"

Botan faltered slightly.

"Well alright, maybe she did have me fooled!" she reluctantly confessed. "But I wasn't as close to her for as long as you all were! Yusuke told me you all had a bath together – and you still didn't notice that Hiei suddenly had perky boobs and a lady garden where his manly jewels were supposed to be?"

"Botan, I never had a reason to suspect that the Hiei at my side was not the Hiei I had always known," Kurama carefully replied, ignoring the guttural remark Hiei made at Botan's choice of words. "Yukina knew enough of Hiei and the rest of us to pass herself off as him at a high level, and she had studied Hiei closely enough to quite successfully mimic a lot of his mannerisms. Hiei was sick and frail and out of sorts–"

"I was never frail," Hiei cut in.

"–and Yukina's gut reactions to so many of things we encountered were alarmingly similar to Hiei's. I expected Hiei to look thinner, paler and sound different, so visually I had no clue. Yukina's disguise was incredibly clever. The only unusual or suspicious things she did was occasionally show restraint, care about little things, worry about killing in a fight and act affectionate towards me."

Botan pushed her way between Hiei and Kurama and sat down, resting her elbows on her knees and resting her chin in her upturned palms.

"Lord Koenma knew all along," she said with a sigh. "I feel so silly for not noticing."

"Hn, he's a liar," Hiei scoffed.

"Hiei!" Botan yelped, turning to look at him.

"He's right, Botan, Koenma did lie about that," Kurama said, drawing Botan's outraged glare in his direction. "Koenma saw Yukina the first day she adopted her disguise and did not realise who she was, and he met us in spirit world by the second gate on Justice Road, spending most of a day and a night with us before figuring it out. He did figure it out on his own, but he had more information on the situation than any of the rest of us put together."

"Hn, I'm the only one of you idiots who could see what was really going on!" Hiei grumbled.

"Well of course you could, Hiei!" Botan replied. "You were the one being impersonated, so you knew that the other you wasn't the real you because you are the real you and the real you – which is you – had a real jagan eye which could see through the tricks of the fake you – but even if you hadn't had a jagan eye, you still would have known it wasn't you because you are you!"

"…I prefer your mouth when it does things other than talking," Hiei flatly replied.

"I think we can all agree that we were all a little too distracted to notice what was really going on, and that Yukina surprised us all by being intelligent and crafty enough to fool us all," Kurama said. "Arcanum arcanorum."

"I preferred it when everything was still Arcanum…" Hiei muttered.

"Oh Hiei, it's much nicer this way!" Botan said, nudging him playfully with her shoulder. "Now that all the secrets have been revealed, you can have a brother-sister relationship with Yukina! And you and I and Kurama and Yukina can double-date!"

"I sense that someone from spirit world is about to arrive," Hiei replied, his expression flat.

"Oh no!" Botan gasped, standing abruptly. "It's probably Ayame! I promised I would return her oar after you snatched it off of her and left her with my oar from Princess Mukuro, but then I broke it trying to escape from the Apepi because I wasn't flying high enough because I didn't know that snakes could fly though the–"

"She's getting very close, you should hurry."

Botan yelped and darted off, leaving Hiei and Kurama alone again.

"No-one's coming from spirit world," Kurama said once he was confident that Botan was out of earshot.

"No, but when she starts using words I don't like, it's time for her to leave," Hiei answered.

"Do you know what a double-date is?" Kurama asked.

"Don't want to," Hiei replied. "Dates are a sick enough concept without them being "double"."

Kurama laughed, but Hiei's expression did not shift.

"Don't worry Hiei," Kurama said, straightening his expression. "I just want to spend some time with Yukina when she's not pretending to be you. I need to know if I can still feel the same way about her when she's just being herself."

"That sounds worse than triple-dating," Hiei complained.

"How about this: if I am to spend more time with Yukina, she won't be alone up here for so long as she has been," Kurama offered. "She will be safer with me around. As long as I am frequenting this area, I promise you Yukina will not come to any harm. The only contact she will have will be tender and loving."

"I want to throw up in your face."

"Please don't."

"You better look after her. I know you went native back in demon world when you had all the ice wenches in a truck with you. I know they made you revert back to your lusty, foxy roots. Just don't get that way with my sister, understand?"

"Of course. You know Hiei, you, and Yukina's friend Rui, and perhaps many others may soon have a completely different opinion on the relationship between fox demons and ice maidens. And that change will stem from what happens right here."

* * *

"I'm going to kill you, but first I'm going to have you."

Yukina remained still, shock and fear delaying her reaction as Fumio's hands pressed into her sides.

"Your death will be exquisite," he growled, his pewter-coloured hair falling over either side of Yukina's face, casting her into shadow as he leaned over her. "First I'll make you scream with pain. But that won't last long – it never does with your kind. You protest it, you cry sweet gemstone tears, your face twisted and your body wracked with fear, but eventually you all love it. It doesn't take long before you're screaming in pleasure, begging for more. I'm going to carve my name in your skin with my claws, I'm going to rip you open and then I'm going to take you to the peak of ecstasy right before I turn you into a tasty treat for a Death Plant. You've seen the Death Plant before, haven't you Yukina? Of course you have, it's one of Kurama's favourite weapons. Such a beautiful plant, and the flowers it produces are unique in shape, colour and scent to the victim of the plant. It's just a pity you won't quite live long enough to see what sort of bloom your flesh and blood produces."

Yukina inhaled sharply, partly as a gasp of shock but also partly to draw in her gut as Fumio's hands slid around her waist, his fingers working their way up her chest.

"Oh, were you expecting me?" he purred as the tips of his fingers reached the still-open buttons of her dress. "I prefer my gifts tightly wrapped, but I suppose this little opening isn't too much of an inconvenience. It won't matter once I've ripped it open wider than you ever thought possible."

Yukina screamed and threw herself forwards, deciding that plunging down through the skies of demon world to her death was an infinitely preferable fate to being violated and tortured by a deranged demon. She enjoyed a brief moment of relief as the front of her dress tore against the strain of her entire weight pulling it down against Fumio's claws, and her body began to fall over the edge of the vines; but her weight caught again and suddenly as Fumio's hands caught her ankles, his grip easily as painful as the sudden jolt on her joints. She grabbed at the slippery vines in the vain hope of being able to secure the upper half of her body and redirect her energy into freeing her legs, but between the slimy coating of the plant and her small hands and fingers, she could not get a grip. In her prone position, the lower half of her dress had turned inside-out, and the feeling of a gust of warm demon world air against her bared legs did little to reassure her.

"Let go of me!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"Alright," Fumio replied.

She held in a yelp of alarm as he released one of her ankles, her weight again jarring painfully against the joints of her leg he was still supporting, her freed leg bowing out awkwardly at her side as her centre of gravity shifted. Yukina kept her focus on trying to grip into the vines, scratching at them desperately in the hope that she could penetrate them and tear thinner strands to grasp onto, and she was so intent on her task that it did not occur to her that Fumio had let go of her ankle for any reason other than to taunt her with the fall she faced if he opened his other hand.

Yukina stopped suddenly, her fingers straightening out and her eyes growing large as Fumio's free hand grabbed her bared thigh, his thumb and forefinger touching the edges of her underwear.

"Does danger turn you on, Yukina?" he said, his words only worsening her panic. "I suppose there's only one way to find out."

His index finger burrowed its way under the elastic of her panties and she snapped back to her senses, kicking back her freed leg. Her heel collided with his upper arm, but as she was kicking against gravity, her blow was doubly weakened against a demon of his power, and he did not so much as flinch at the contact.

"Stop it!" she cried. "Just leave me alone!"

"You almost foiled my plans in spirit world and you tried to cast me into the pit of eternal pain and suffering," he replied. "Amuse me: tell me why you think I should spare you now?"

"You started all of this!" Yukina answered. "You hurt and abused my people, you did terrible things to spirit world and you're a very mean man!"

"My heart bleeds. But that's quite the rap sheet you've given me. Your delivery was incredibly childish and pitiful, but then again those are your strongest qualities."

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"You're not incredibly intelligent either, are you Yukina? If you had even the slightest hint of sense in that fluffy little head of yours, you would never have thought you could get away with imitating your brother, and you certainly wouldn't have ever challenged me. And yet you did both. Tell me Yukina, when your so-called "friends" found out about your dirty act of deceit, did they respond favourably?"

Yukina's fingers slipped over the surface of the vines as she began to quiver.

"Or were they perhaps a little disappointed?" Fumio continued when she did not answer him. "They all coddled you, treated you as an equal, led you to believe that you were capable of feeling real emotions, thinking logically and sensibly and that you are an individual. How cruel. They all deserved to nearly die because of your stupid little game. I won't be as pandering as they were. I will tell it to you straight: everything your ancestors in the ice village ever told you was true. You are a jewel factory. You contribute nothing of value to this world or any other apart from the pretty little stones you can create. Your kind are only allowed to exist because you produce currency for the rest of us. The fact that you have a passably attractive form is mere coincidence. There are only two things you can and do ever feel: fear and pain. And since you seem to invest a large amount of your time into seeking the thrill of feeling something truly intense, allow me to make you more afraid and to experience more excruciating agony than you ever thought possible."

Yukina cried out as she was yanked upwards, Fumio standing and hauling her up over his head before releasing his hold of her altogether. She flew a short way through the air before her back collided with a tree, which she bounced off of painfully and then dropped like a deadweight to the ground. She took a moment to blink back her confusion and push herself past the moment of pain from the impact; but she was not granted nearly as long as she needed as she was brought abruptly back to the moment by a sharp tug at the hem of her dress. She focused her eyes for only an instant – just long enough to see Fumio tearing a strip of fabric from the lower half of her dress – before throwing herself over to one side. She rolled over completely and leapt to her feet, breaking into a run without hesitation, ignoring pain, fear and panic as survival instinct overtook all of her other senses.

As she ran, Yukina tried to block out two niggling thoughts that lingered in the back of her mind: the first was that she was too flustered to really notice which direction she was running, and if she wanted to have any hope of escaping Fumio, she ought to be aiming for the temple, and the second was that Fumio was much faster and stronger than she was, and yet he was letting her stay ahead of him, which made no sense. And Fumio really was letting her stay ahead, maintaining his distance behind her, only occasionally breaking form to take a glancing shot at her. She could not tell if he was hitting her with his claws or some kind of plant, but he was – with worrying accuracy and efficiency – shredding her dress from her body. Without a weapon and without the discretion dressing in men's clothing had offered her, Yukina was not confident that she could stand up to Fumio in any capacity. She knew that he was infinitely stronger than her, but he was quite arrogant and a little reckless, and that had allowed her opportunities to keep him at bay in their previous encounters, but this time was different.

This time Yukina was not even experiencing the moment in her own body, rather she felt as though she was hiding behind a tree watching the horror unfold, exactly as she had done during her first visit to Arbeinia when Rui had finally deigned her old enough to leave the ice village for a visit to demon world proper.

And that thought was what made Yukina almost irrational with hatred towards Fumio. Kurama's full demon form was graceful and beautiful, his hair as silver as the metal of the same name and his eyes a flawless honey-gold, but Fumio was different. Fumio's hair was a dirty pale charcoal colour and his eyes a brash yellow. He was, as Kurama had pointed out during their first meeting, a younger demon than Kurama. Fox demons were born with black fur that faded to silver with age, but that process took the best part of a century to complete. Fumio was still young, and in his current state, he had the same dirty, half-faded colouring of the fox demon who had ascended upon Yukina and the ice maidens who had taken her to Arbeinia during her first visit there. And as she ran, Yukina could see herself running from him, she could see the mauve-haired ice maiden running from the fox demon so many years ago, she could hear her breathing becoming squeaky and desperate, she could hear the desperate and fearful cries of the ice maiden so long ago, and, worst of all, she could see the moment the fox stopped toying with the girl and caught her, tearing her clothes from her, his claws mercilessly tearing skin with silk, and then, too terrified to move or help, Yukina had hid behind a tree and watched as the fox had his way with the ice maiden.

With most of her dress removed from her body, Yukina realised that she was facing the same fate. Fumio could catch her at any moment; he was merely toying with her. He wanted her frightened because that was part of the thrill. He was going to catch her – it was just a matter of when it would happen, not if – and when he did, he was going to do quite terrible things to her.

"No!" Yukina wailed as he suddenly grabbed the back of the collar of her dress.

He yanked back and she cried out again as she was forced to a halt, the remains of her dress tearing painfully down the length of her body. He discarded the flimsy material and grabbed her arm, pulling her around to face him. Out of desperation, she tried to kick him in the groin, but he easily hit her leg aside. She leapt at him in an attempt to inflict an ice burn on him but he leapt out of her reach and threw something at her feet. She tried to move but was stopped short as something slithered its way around one of her ankles.

Looking down she almost vomited as the irony of her predicament began to sink in: Fumio had just used a trick he had learnt from Kurama to hold her in place against her will.

"You remember how this plant works, don't you Yukina?" Fumio asked her. "It's immune to ice attacks, and it grows two new leaves for every one you break off."

Yukina lifted her free foot from the ground but a shoot from the body of the plant whipped outwards and caught her ankle anyway, pulling it back down to the ground. She already knew that struggling would only make her suffer worse, and so she reluctantly stilled herself, lifting her eyes to Fumio, who grinned darkly at her.

"Yes, that's what I love," he growled. "That look is to divine: you've finally given in to your fear, finally accepted your fate. And now it's time for my fun to really begin…"

* * *

Kurama was standing at the top of the temple steps, the wind tugging his hair out to one side. The others had all moved indoors as it was getting quite dark and the temperature was dropping outside; but Kurama was still outside on his own, waiting for Yukina's return. He had not expected her to hurry back from the beach after their earlier encounter, but he had expected her to return before the sun set entirely – and she was only about ten minutes away from failing to meet that deadline.

He could only guess what she was thinking and why she had been detained, but he decided to start back to meet her. He had an idea that she might have found a wounded woodland critter, as she often did, and lost track of time trying to heal it. The forests around Genkai's temple were still a hive of activity for D-class demons, who were no threat to Kurama, but could prove a challenge to Yukina, who was as inexperienced in battle as she was at socialising outside of her own clan. He smiled to himself as he began to descend the temple steps: Yukina had shown some promise during her time pretending to be Hiei, and, with some training and direction, she could perhaps prove to be a decent fighter. She would never be a contender for the Demon World Tournament, but she could certainly be more effective than she had been before. Yusuke had suggested that the team should encourage her to train and fight, and although Kurama did not especially disagree with him, he wanted to be sure that Yukina wanted to follow that route before she was dragged along it by an overly-keen Yusuke or else felt forced to do so because she was still so desperate to prove herself to everyone else.

Kurama had read enough of Yukina's writings she had secretly stashed in her room to know that she was not the shrinking violet the others all thought her to be, but he also knew that she was still soft enough that she would do things she maybe did not want to simply to please someone else. And, more particularly, he had read her ideas about how her romance with him would play out, should it ever become a reality; which was something he intended to respond to, when the time was right.

"Kurama!"

Kurama stopped, one foot on the forest floor, the other still on the last step of the temple stairs. The cry was a desperate, ragged one screamed out in terror – and, judging by how faint it had sounded, it was coming from some distance away. But, despite the tone, the distance and the whistle of the wind distorting it, there was no mistaking that the cry had come from Yukina.

Within three strides, Kurama was sprinting at his top speed towards the source of the cry, and he took less than a minute to reach his destination, where he stumbled to a halt, momentarily frozen on the spot at what he saw: Yukina was being held a few inches off the ground by a demon pereskia – just like the one he had used to restrain her in spirit world – she had been stripped to her underwear, the plant was holding her arms and legs out at her sides, she was littered with lacerations and contusions, and, by far worst of all, Fumio was leaning over her, his mouth open, poised to take a bite out of her shoulder.

Fumio's jaws made a sickening clunking sound as they snapped together – but he missed his intended target, his body airborne by the time he had reacted, his jaws closing an instant before he hit the ground, landing on his left shoulder. He turned to see what had thrown him to the ground, but his face was met with a fist: it was hardly the most effective or appropriate way of fighting, but Kurama had lost patience with the younger fox demon, and so when he shook off the first blow, Kurama followed with a second. The sound of his name brought back to his senses for a moment, and he turned his head to the source of the voice, seeing Yukina hanging in the air above and behind him, staring down at him with wide, terrified eyes. At such close range, he could see that her injuries were worse than he had anticipated, and she was clearly both panicked about being caught in a plant that could kill her if she struggled and desperate to hide herself again: although her underwear was not at all skimpy or revealing, one strap of her bra had snapped, the material it supported wilting downwards from the breakage, barely keeping her dignity in tact.

Kurama grunted as Fumio recovered and threw him off. By luck, he landed by the roots of the demon pereskia holding Yukina, and he quickly slapped a hand against the ground, feeding enough energy into the roots to disable to the plant. She was dropped unceremoniously to the ground with a yelp of surprise and possibly pain, but Kurama had to stand and push back Fumio, denying him the chance to break her fall. He managed to catch Fumio off-guard with an energy blast that threw him back a few feet, where he landed on his back. Kurama then quickly turned to Yukina, who was sitting on the ground, her legs bunched up in front of her, her arms huddled protectively over her chest. She looked even smaller than usual in that position, and, as she looked at Kurama, she looked as frightened of him as she was of Fumio.

Kurama shook off his thoughts, deciding to address them later, and instead focused on the task at hand: he removed his sweater, frowning slightly when his action made Yukina shuffle back from him slightly, her already wide eyes grower larger. He held out the garment towards her expectantly, and she seemed confused at first.

"Cover yourself up," he explained.

She relaxed a little then and gladly took the sweater from him, pulling it over her head with shaking hands. It was far too big for her, the poloneck looking baggy about her slender neck, and she had to roll the sleeves up to half their length just to uncover her hands, but the excessive length proved to be to her advantage as the hem fell to halfway down her thighs. She stood up and tightened the roll of the sleeves by her wrists and, despite still shaking all over and looking quite beaten, she glowered in the direction Fumio had landed, looking ready to fight.

"Stay out of the way," Kurama warned her.

She turned her glower to him, the determination in her eyes losing none of its intensity.

"He planted a giant demon plant in spirit world, and it tore open a portal to this realm and then another into demon world," she said. "All three worlds are open to each other, and the plant is still spreading into demon world – it might attract attention, and if demons follow it to its source, they can enter spirit world."

Kurama paused long enough to consider what Yukina had just told him.

"Stopping that plant will require a lot of energy and hard work," he concluded aloud.

"Can I kill it?" she asked.

"No, the best you could hope to do it halt its advance," he replied. "That plant can only be grown, controlled and stopped by a fox demon."

Yukina nodded.

"Then you must go immediately and start work destroying it," she said.

Kurama grunted involuntarily: he could not tell what shocked him more, her words or the fact that she had meant them.

"I will detain Fumio here," she added.

"Do you understand what he will do to you if I leave you alone with him?" Kurama asked harshly, anger stirring in his chest.

"That's not important," she softly replied. "You have to stop that plant. If very powerful demons get into spirit world, terrible things could happen. And remember, the first portal from demon world to spirit world that Fumio created brought that terrible virus to demon world."

Kurama narrowed his eyes, hoping to break her resolve with a stern look, but she remained surprisingly unaffected.

"Sit down and stay out of my way," he said firmly. "I will take care of this intruder and his plant."

Yukina's expression changed slightly, the tightness relaxing around the corners of her eyes, her eyebrows inverting in shape as her frown faded. She took a step back and lowered her head slightly, and Kurama, with no more time to spare, took her action to be one of submission, and he turned from her in time to confront Fumio, who had just launched a most unexpected attack at him.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Oh God, seriously, why hasn't this fic ended already? It was only ever meant to be like 12 chapters, the whole ice maiden auction thing onwards was all ideas that only happened after I started writing… **Chapter 35 – Thirteenth Night**

 **PS:** Does anyone here remember Fox McCloud? Does anyone else think his name sorta sounds rude? Like every time you say it, you end up saying Fux Aloud? No? Just me then. Oh well.


	35. Thirteenth Night

This had to be the last chapter – I ran out of ideas for "TN" chapter titles and any appropriate alternatives.

Though, I'm going to say the same thing I always do – a lot of my work is best read twice. (I'm not forcing anyone to do that, just advising it. I've had a lot of people comment that after multiple readings they realise points in the plot that they either skipped over or didn't really get the first time around. And yes, those are deliberate on my part!)

* * *

 **Chapter 35: Thirteenth Night**

Yukina had no intention of sitting down and watching like a helpless bystander as Fumio delayed Kurama from stopping the demon plant that was creating a path from spirit world to living world and into demon world, directing all manners of evil into places they would never normally have access to: but the sight of a rough-coated fox with glowing red eyes and unnaturally large teeth leaping at Kurama's chest was enough of a shock to take her from her feet. Yukina landed on her rear-end with a thump and a small noise escaped her throat, but she otherwise was still and silent as Fumio – now in his most primal form – closed his jaws, blood welling up around his lips. He had been aiming for Kurama's shoulder, but a last minute attempt to block the attack meant that Fumio's teeth had sunk into the flesh of Kurama's forearm. Yukina was not sure at first if the point of attack had been significant, but when she considered that a bite to the shoulder could have severed a major artery to the heart or head, she concluded that, although Kurama had probably intended to avoid the bite altogether, his defence had still been reasonably successful.

However, he looked a little surprised, which was not a look Yukina was accustomed to seeing on his face. Fumio, in his fox form, was little bigger than a regular fox, and so, with his mouth clamped onto Kurama's arm, when gravity caught up to him, his weight slumped downwards from the point of contact. The fox tightened his bite as his weight caught against his jaws – Yukina was not sure if he had done so to reaffirm his grip or simply to worsen his attack – and a sickening cracking sound followed. Kurama winced slightly, but quickly recovered, poking Fumio in the eyes, the shock making him open his jaws enough for Kurama to wrestle his arm free. They separated for a brief moment before lunging at each other again, and in a brief flurry of movement, they both suddenly vanished.

Yukina awkwardly got to her feet again, glancing about herself in confusion. The only clue that remained to indicate that the two fox demons had ever been there was the slight swaying of the undergrowth they had just passed by and the few small droplets of blood on the ground and tree root by where they had collided. She stumbled forwards a few steps, then realising that she had apparently lost her shoes during her struggle with Fumio, looking down to see that one of her socks was still intact, pulled up to her knee, but the elastic had snapped in the other, which was bunched around her ankle and bagging loose about her toes. Her socks offered little protection to her skin, and she could feel every stone and thorn on the ground; but she pressed through the discomfort and forced herself to run up the slight slope ahead of her to the forest path.

The sun had almost completely set and the forest was growing darker by the minute, the view only slightly better on the forest path than it was in the thick of the trees. Luckily for Yukina, she knew the forest path well enough to not need the assistance of daylight to recognise which direction led back to the temple. She was almost certain that she had been running away from the temple when she had fled Fumio, and so she went back towards the temple in the hope of finding the three-way portal he had created. Kurama had already said that she would not be able to destroy the plant or undo what it had done, but he had said that she could stop it spreading, and she was determined to at least do that. She was not really sure where Kurama and Fumio had gone or why, but she was confident that Kurama could handle Fumio in one-on-one combat. Turning into a fox had seemed to her like a desperation tactic on Fumio's part, and she assumed that was a sign that even Fumio knew he was out-matched. A small part of her was a little disappointed that she had lost sight of the fight, as she had always enjoyed watching Kurama fight due to his intelligent and inventive methods, but a larger part of her just wanted to go home, crawl into bed, heal her own injuries and sleep.

After a few minutes of running Yukina started to feel and see the disturbance on the path up ahead where Fumio's plant had somehow opened two portals, connecting all three realms. As it was so dark it was difficult to clearly make out, but the stench of demon world and the amber glow of spirit world were unmistakable. And the creaking, hissing, splashing sound was probably a sign of the problem up ahead too.

On an instinct she was sure she must have learnt working with Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama, Yukina launched herself into the air, diving off the path and landing in the undergrowth by the base of a tree. She quickly looked over her shoulder, clearly seeing her attacker despite the darkness: and it was unlike anything she had ever seen before. She could not tell what sort of creature it was, only that it was a bright red colour – like freshly spilled blood – it had a long, ridged, tubular body, and its head was merely an enormous mouth framed by slimy pinkish feelers. It had apparently been attempting to eat her, as its head had crashed into the forest path where she had been running only a second earlier, and the impact of the collision had left a small crater in the ground. Yukina carefully and quietly stood up again, her eyes widening and a small gasp of alarm escaping her as she noticed the vegetation around the crater was blackened and sizzling. She took a few wary steps back before the sound of something crashing through the trees at her side had her running and diving for cover again as another monster the same as the first one came flying at her. She hit the ground a second earlier than her first evasive attempt, and looked back in time to see that the monster's mouth was filled with vicious fangs. It hit the ground mere inches behind her, and she was on her feet again in an instant as the earth and plants around it dissolved in a cloud of steam.

Yukina started to run but was forced to change direction twice as the monsters recovered lifted their heads again and both started after her. When a third monster appeared she spun around in a complete circle to search for a place to run, finding only the narrowest of gaps to escape through; but the sickening smell the creatures' saliva told her she would not be fast enough to escape them a third time. A shadow fell over her and she tried to once more dive out of harm's way, colliding with something she had not seen when she had left her feet, the impact forcing her to fall at a different angle. She heard something sizzling by her ear, but before she could figure out what it was, hands were pulling her to her feet again. She did not resist, as she was being pulled away from the monsters chasing her, but she quickly sought out the person touching her, relief washing over her as she saw that it was Kurama.

"What are those things?" she asked him.

"Branches of a death tree," he replied.

"A tree?" Yukina echoed. "But..."

"Don't you recognise it?" Kurama asked her. "It's the same plant I used in the Dark Tournament against Ura Urimisha."

"Who?"

"Move!"

Yukina yelped as he pushed her down again and then promptly hoisted her to her feet again as another branch hit the ground behind them.

"It kills anything that moves," Kurama explained. "And it's an incredibly powerful plant, too powerful for a fool like Fumio to control – he's become desperate."

"How do we stop it?" Yukina asked.

""We" don't," he replied. "You need to get out of range. I can try to take control of the plant myself, but I can't guarantee it won't hurt you while I do that. We're going to dodge once more, and this time don't move after we land – it's the only way now for it to stop chasing you. Even if you are injured in the fall or burned by the acid from its mouth, you cannot move, understand?"

"O-okay," she reluctantly agreed.

She screamed involuntarily as Kurama once more pushed her down to the ground, but this time he leapt back from her immediately, and from the corner of her eye she could see that he had drawn the branches of the death tree towards himself. His head was engulfed in smoke, a hissing sound filling the air and then his entire body disappeared from sight when more branches surrounded him entirely. Yukina had to fight the instinct to shout out in alarm or move from her position, the only thing keeping her still being the single, smaller branch that was hovering in the air around her tentatively, as though it was daring her to move so that it could strike. She was not even sure that the plant could see her when she was motionless, but it remained close by regardless, the occasional splat of its saliva blackening and dissolving the vegetation mere inches from her face.

Yukina forgot her bid to stay still when she noticed the source of the plant flying into view, her eyes moving towards it and even her head twitching slightly. The branch loitering at her side flinched as though it would pounce, but stopped again when she did; though she barely noticed its reaction, her attention still focused on the fox demon jumping down towards her, his right arm encased in the root of the death tree. As he spotted Yukina, Fumio gave her a dark grin, and suddenly a powerful and unexpected thought flared to the forefront of Yukina's mind.

If he kills Kurama, I will kill him.

Yukina stopped breathing. She had never considered such logic to be correct or acceptable, despite her own people having employed it as one of their laws, and, in the past, she had condoned Hiei for applying that rule in his own battles: but in that moment, Hiei's logic seemed to make incredibly good sense to her. And it was not the first time in the last few days that she had found herself sympathising with the fire demon she now knew was her brother. Maybe Botan was right: maybe she was just as stubborn and headstrong as Hiei.

Fumio landed gracefully, but before his hair had even settled around his shoulders the smirk had vanished from his face. His eyes moved from Yukina to the cluster of branches around where Kurama had been standing, and he looked confused and mildly alarmed; and it did not take Yukina long to see why. The branches surrounding Kurama were starting to separate, seemingly against Fumio's will. Yukina audibly sighed out a breath of air in relief when they eased back far enough to reveal Kurama still standing, but as they drew back further she gasped the air back in: although he had somehow escaped slaughter from the death tree, he had not escaped harm. But he appeared unhindered by his injuries, fighting through them to press the advantage he had somehow managed to gain. Despite the odds, despite being in a human body, Kurama had somehow managed to inject his own spirit energy into the death tree and he was gradually taking control of it.

Fumio took on a strained look as he tried to maintain control of the plant that was rooted on his own arm, and, for a brief moment, the branches of the death tree loitered in the air halfway between the two fox demons, apparently undecided about who their master was; but the demon plant did not linger for long before turning its fanged mouths towards the younger fox and slowly closing in on him. Yukina finally let out the breath she had been holding when every one of the death trees branches surrounded Fumio, and she closed her eyes as he let out a sickening yelp when the plant got close enough to burn him. When she opened her eyes again the death tree had collapsed in a pile on the forest floor and was turning grey as though the life energy was draining out of it.

"Are you alright?"

Yukina moved her eyes to the source of the voice, seeing a breathless Kurama standing over her.

"It's safe to move now," he added, as though understanding her unspoken concern. "Neither the death tree nor Fumio will be bothering us again."

Yukina carefully lifted herself up onto one hip, pausing there as her eyes roved over the small but vicious burns Kurama had suffered over his arms, shoulders and upper chest, and, perhaps most upsettingly to her, the death tree had burnt off a lengthy chunk of hair from one side of Kurama's head. He looked back over his shoulder and she hurriedly got to her feet, reaching her hands out towards his hair; but before she could reach her goal he turned back and caught her wrists in his hands.

"Please, don't waste your energy healing me," he said. "I have to go to spirit world to uproot that plant, and whilst I am gone I need you to use your powers to stop the plant from spreading any further until I have finished uprooting it."

Yukina, still dumbfounded by everything she had just witnessed, simply nodded her head in agreement.

"Come on," Kurama said.

She made to agree with him but her voice was swallowed in a gasp or surprise as he took hold of her hand, lacing his fingers through hers the same way he had done the day they had leapt through the portal from demon world to spirit world. She stumbled a little as he started to move and she took a moment to recover her senses and remember what they were supposed to be doing. She shook off her daze and hurried along with him; but she found herself clutching his hand tightly, a small concern lingering in her mind that she might not get another chance to hold his hand again.

"If any demons start climbing the vines, come into spirit world immediately and let me know," Kurama instructed as they neared the pulsing mass of vines maintaining the two portals.

Yukina nodded, but as she was a step behind Kurama he did not see her gesture.

"Okay?" he pressed, stopping by the demon plant.

"Yes," she quickly replied when she found him looking at her with a sense of urgency flashing in his eyes.

He nodded and then leapt through the portal to spirit world, leaving Yukina alone. She hesitated where he had left her, feeling a little concerned and disappointed that, in jumping through the portal and down to the roots of the plant, he had disappeared from her line of sight. Again she forced herself to focus on the task at hand and dropped to her knees, placing her hands on the vines. The plant felt no less slimy or sickening to touch, but Yukina ignored her repulsion and pressed her hands firmly against the top vine before shooting out a charge of ice-powered energy. Typically, that exact move was enough to kill a plant – though not always immediately – but apparently the plant Fumio had used was unlike most others, as the damage she was causing only seemed to be affecting the vine she was touching and not the rest of the plant. Yukina tried to stay calm, tried to tell herself that the damage she was causing would soon spread to the rest of the plant, tried to make herself believe that as soon as she had frozen the particular vine she was touching the frost damage would reach the heart of the plant and begin affecting the other vines.

When Yukina started to break a sweat, the vine she was touching thoroughly frozen but the others still pulsing and growing without hesitation despite her efforts, she began to panic. Panic was an emotion Yukina had never really been accustomed to in her life, having only experienced it when Tarukane kidnapped her and then again when she had witnessed her friends in dire straits in a tough battle: but in the last twelve days, Yukina had experienced panic so often, she was starting to hate herself for feeling it. Her panic right at that moment, combined with her inability to stop the plant, was like yet another bitter reminder of why she was not in the same league as Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and especially Kurama. Not only were they more resourceful and able to turn their fears into strength, they had the added sensibility to never give in when a strategy failed. Or, in Kurama's case, had the presence of mind to thoroughly and correctly assess the situation whilst remaining calm and then swiftly and effectively take the correct action to remedy the problem.

Maybe Fumio had been right after all: maybe Yusuke had just been humouring Yukina when he had suggested that she could join him on a mission and stand alongside him as a valuable asset to the team.

Yukina made a small noise of frustration but fought through the urge to give in to her own self-pity. The elders of the ice village had always tried to tell her that letting her emotions show and cloud her judgement were bad things, and, in this instance, it seemed that they were right; though thinking that way only turned frustration into anger. Yukina released the vine she had frozen and grabbed another, quickly rendering it as lifeless as she had the first. The damage was still only restricted to the vine she was touching, but she did not give up, moving her attention onto two vines at once, putting a hand on each and concentrating harder to still them as quickly as she had the others.

After several minutes of straining to the limits of her strength, Yukina had successfully stopped the plant from growing any further, but, just as Kurama had predicted, the plant was not breaking apart nor were the portals it had torn open reducing any. She dragged the back of one hand across her brow to clear the sweat that had gathered there before rising to her feet and leaning forwards to peer into the portal to spirit world. She could not see or hear anything beyond the clump of vines and the yellow skies behind them, and so she tried to edge closer, only to scream in alarm and leap back when the vines suddenly lurched towards her. In a brief moment in panic she thought that the plant had somehow recovered from the damage she had caused it, and she started to feel light-headed, the idea that the plant was invincible plaguing her thoughts: but her concerns were short-lived as the vines collapsed on the forest floor and Kurama landed on top of them a split second ahead of the portal to spirit world shrinking out of sight.

He looked about himself at the deadened vines, nodding as though in approval as he pushed his hair back from his face with one hand. His gesture once more brought Yukina's attention to his burnt hair and the scorches on his skin – a few of which had started to weep.

"You've done well here, but I still need to close this last portal," he said, his eyes still on the vines.

"Can I help you with that?" she asked.

To her surprise he nodded, though he still did not look directly at her. She was a little concerned about why he would not look at her, but again she suppressed her worries and moved closer to the vines again.

"The easiest way to finish this is to put all of the plant into one realm," Kurama said, wrapping his arms around one of the thick vine roots. "And since most of the plant is in demon world, that's where I'm putting the rest of it."

He threw the end through the portal, and Yukina watched as it fell through the air to the ground far below. She turned back to Kurama to see him gathering up another vine and she quickly moved over to the vine root closest to her. She crouched down and began trying to pick up the vine, but found that the vines were infinitely heavier than Kurama made them appear, as she unable to lift it even slightly from the ground. She wrapped both arms around it and tried leaning back, using the weight of her body to lever it up, but to no avail. She struggled on until she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Kurama standing over her.

"Allow me," he said quietly.

"I-I'm sorry," she said, standing up and stumbling back from the vine. "I tried to move it, but it's much heavier than I thought it would be."

Kurama lifted up the vine without hesitation or any apparent strain and threw it through the portal, which then shrank out of sight behind it.

"You did them all by yourself…" Yukina muttered. "I couldn't even help with that…"

She felt Kurama's hand on her shoulder again, but this time she did not respond, her eyes remaining on the point where the portal to demon world had been.

"There is one thing you could help me with now," he said. "Destroying that plant has left me drained of energy, I don't think I can make it back to the temple without your assistance."

Yukina snorted, assuming that he was humouring her, just as Fumio had said he would: but when Kurama's hand slid from her shoulder and she heard him hit the ground she spun around, her eyes wide as she found him lying on his back on the ground, looking as exhausted as he had claimed to be. She cried out his name and dropped to her knees at his side, her hands hovering over the various wounds he had. His eyes fluttered open long enough to look directly at her, a hint of an ironic smile gracing his lips.

"It doesn't really matter where you start," he said quietly. "Quite ridiculous really, isn't it? Before I merged my soul with Shuichi, a miserable kit like Fumio wouldn't have stood a chance against me."

"But you defeated him!" Yukina pointed out.

"It was a desperate and crude victory, barely achieved," he replied, his eyes drifting closed again.

"No!"

Yukina waited for Kurama to say something more, but his eyes remained closed, his lips slightly parted, and his breathing became slower and shallower. She was not sure if he was falling asleep or losing consciousness, but either way she did not want it to happen, and so she touched each of her hands to the worst of the burns he had suffered, and began healing the damage.

But Yukina, just like Kurama, had expended more physical and spiritual energy than she had bargained on already, and, as she continued her work, her vision began to blur. She managed to cure the worst of his injuries and begin work on some of the more minor wounds before she started to slump forwards; and barely a few seconds later she collapsed completely, the top half of her body resting on Kurama's bared chest.

* * *

Yukina awoke with a start, sitting up abruptly and only realising that she had cried out Kurama's name when her mind started to calm and her eyes began flicking about herself, taking stock of exactly where she was. Her last clear memory was of straining with what little energy she had left to heal Kurama of his battle wounds in the middle of the forest around Genkai's temple in the dark of night, but now she was suddenly in her own bed, inside the temple, and even through the curtains she could see the glare of a late afternoon sunshine illuminating the sky outside. She sat for a few seconds longer, looking about herself as she warred with the idea that the last twelve days had perhaps all been a detailed dream, as she had apparently over-slept, and an epic dream was a likely consequence: but reaching a hand over one shoulder told her the events of the last twelve days had definitely not been a dream, as her hair was still in the choppy short style she had been forced to cut it into in order to effectively visually disguise herself as Hiei.

She sighed and pushed aside her covers, swinging her legs over the edge of her bed before stopping again as she noticed the red poloneck Kurama had given her to wear draped over the back of the chair at her desk, and then looked down to see that she was in her sleeping yukata. She inwardly cringed as she imagined who might have changed her clothing for her. Kurama, who had been injured and had fought bravely and then had to work hard destroying and disposing of Fumio's plant, had probably been then forced to carry her back to the temple after she had swooned like a pitiful little girl, she thought bitterly. He had probably taken her to Botan, who had probably changed Yukina's clothes like she was some sort of child unable to do so herself.

Yukina growled and got out of bed, stretching and wincing as she felt a few aches and pains that were still niggling her from the physical traumas she had endured lately. She crossed the room and opened her wardrobe doors, sighing as she saw her neat rows of clothing. Her choices were still limited to her handmade kimonos and the children's clothing Botan and Keiko had convinced her to buy for when she wanted to visit the city. Sick of dressing and being treated like a child, Yukina chose the original blue kimono she had worn when she had left the ice village.

Once she was dressed and had brushed her hair and realised she could not do anything with it other than to leave it loose, she left her room, pausing long enough to notice that the sword she had been using had been returned to its display before continuing out of the temple to grounds outside, where she set about her usual routine: because apparently, even though the last twelve days had not been a dream, they might as well have been, as it seemed as though everything had just gone back to the way it had been before, with the exception that now everyone around her thought she was a foolish, thoughtless child with a ridiculous crush on Kurama.

Yukina visited Puu, who was as happy to see her as he always was. She fed him, changed his water and brushed him – and she apologised to him for hurting him and using him as a taxi. Yusuke had said that he disliked people using Puu as a taxi, and so Yukina assumed that Puu did not like it either. Puu remained cheerful throughout, leaving her wondering it he had even understood her. Even if he had not though, she felt a little better within herself, and so she supposed that she had probably mostly made the effort for her own sake. She then moved on and fed the Koi in the ponds and plucked up a few weeds she noticed growing in the flower gardens. It was a mild day and as quiet as ever, and, once again, she was completely alone.

And it was all incredibly boring.

It always had been boring, but it felt infinitely more so after being involved in such an adventure. Yukina wondered how long it would take for her to adjust back to her old ways, she wondered if Yusuke would remember his promise, if Kuwabara would still be her friend, if Hiei would ever stop treating her like a helpless charge, if Botan would ever stop treating her like a clueless child and if Kurama would ever speak to her again.

Yukina made her way back indoors, stopping as the door closed behind her, her eyes growing large as she heard two voices talking in a room further down the hall. She paused long enough to recognise that one voice was agitated and bossy, issuing orders, and the other was meek and gentle, humbly accepting the commands being issued before starting towards their source. Halfway to her destination, Yukina began to move faster, running the last few steps as she realised that one of the voices belonged to Botan, who she had not expected to be there, and the other belonged to Rui, who, in the chaos of the last day, Yukina had almost forgotten all about.

"It has to be perfect!" Botan insisted.

"I understand," Rui replied.

"Do you?" Botan snapped.

"Of course I do," Rui answered.

Yukina skidded to a halt, momentarily stunned into silence as she found Rui diligently sewing a silk dress and Botan pacing back and forth in front of her impatiently.

"Do you know what time is it?" Botan said.

"No," Rui replied, without stopping her work or looking up.

"We don't have long!" Botan said, looking up at the clock on the wall nervously.

"This won't take me very long," Rui said, still focussing on her work.

"Well it had better not!"

"It would take me even less time if you would stop interrupting me hysterically."

"What was that?"

"What are you two doing?"

Rui stopped working, her head snapping up at the sound of Yukina's voice. Botan yelped and darted across the room, looking panicked at first; but as she caught Yukina looking at her she hid her concern behind a brilliant grin.

"Oh Yukina, we thought you were still asleep!" she said. "Are you sure you're feeling well enough to be up and about already?"

Yukina looked at the clock on the wall before looking up at Botan who had stopped in front of her, grinning almost maniacally.

"It's almost dinner time, Botan," she said.

"Is it?" Botan said, looking over at the clock as though it was the first time she had done so in some time. "Goodness, so it is! You should have a bath."

Botan put her hands one Yukina's shoulders and turned her around before pushing her towards the door.

"But what about Miss Rui?" Yukina asked, looking back over one shoulder at her old friend.

"She's very busy, we're just distracting her in here," Botan said, pushing harder as Yukina tried to resist.

Yukina stumbled onwards, allowing Botan to push her all the way into the bathroom before questioning her further.

"What is Miss Rui doing anyway?" she asked as Botan finally released her.

"Oh, she's making a dress," Botan replied as she began running the water in the bath.

"Miss Rui is making a dress for you?" Yukina asked.

"Yes, that's right," Botan replied with a nod of her head. "I brought the silk and we spoke about what sort of design would look best, and now she's making the dress. Isn't that so sweet of her?"

Yukina started to tell Botan that Rui had not been rescued just to become everyone's maid, but she stopped halfway through her tirade as she noticed the items Botan was removing from the cupboards.

"These are all my favourite bath products, you can use any of them you like," Botan said as she caught Yukian watching her.

Yukina was unable to stop her eyebrows from leaping upwards in surprise.

"Really?" she asked. "You don't mind?"

"Of course not, sweetie!" Botan replied, again grinning that slightly disturbing grin.

"Well that does sound nice…"

"Then get to it!"

"Can I maybe have some breakfast first?"

"No."

"But I'm hungry."

"Good, it's always better that way."

"What?"

"Enjoy your bath, sweetie!"

Yukina tilted her head in confusion, but Botan had already disappeared from her line of sight, and so, again, she resigned to do as she had been ordered. Yukina decided to purposefully take advantage of the overly generous offer Botan had made and she selected the finest of Botan's body washes, shampoos and conditioners. It had been a long time since she had been able to have such a luxurious bathing experience, and she allowed herself to indulge in it, telling herself that she had earned it after several days in demon world with a group of boys whose favourite odour was that of their own farts.

Yukina's moment of bliss only ended when she stepped out of the bath again some time later and caught sight of her reflection and remembered that her hair looked quite silly. Sitting flat – and no longer being swept up like Hiei's – it was luckily a feminine enough style, despite being short: but it was the sort of haircut a little girl had, and it made her look and feel even more immature and pathetic. She sighed and turned towards the door to leave the bathroom, yelping in shock as she found herself face-to-face with Botan.

"Let's do something with your hair," the ferry girl greeted her, ignoring her alarm. "It's a little tomboyish when you leave it loose, but if we just put some pretty clips in at the sides it would look so cute."

"Maybe I don't want to look cute," Yukina moodily replied, pushing away Botan's hand as she reached for her.

"Oh don't be so stubborn Miss Twin Hiei!" Botan said dismissively.

"I just want to start on dinner, I'm very hungry, and–ow!"

Yukina tried to pull away from the brush Botan had just raked through her still tangled hair, but Botan had a hold of her by the collar of her towel robe, and held her in place.

"Trust me Yukina, I can fix this," Botan insisted.

Yukina sighed and gave in to Botan's demands. She did not want pity, least of all from the woman Kurama had been so enraptured with, but, once Botan had finished, Yukina had to admit that her hair did look a lot less childish and a lot more likeable the way she had styled it.

"Thank you Botan," she said meekly as she checked her reflection. "I'm going to eat something now."

"Rui is already making dinner for us," Botan quickly replied. "Why don't you go into the living room and wait by the fire for a bit?"

Yukina opened her mouth to argue, but Botan still had a slightly disturbing, slightly suspicious look on her face, and so Yukina once more complied with her friend's demands, and made her way to the living room. Instead of sitting by the unlit fire however, Yukina went and sat by the large window that overlooked the incline of forest close by one side of the temple. She was still wearing nothing more than the towel bathrobe she had donned upon leaving the bath, but she felt no need to dress again, as her clothes only depressed her, and the robe was nicely comfortable. She cuddled into it and started to relax, watching the wind in the trees: but after only a few seconds she tensed again as she noticed a car on the road that led up to the temple. As the road only led to the temple, the only cars that ever ventured up it were the cars driven by people actually visiting the temple, which made the sight all the more unusual. After a few seconds more, Yukina realised that the car was familiar. Dumfounded into silence and stillness, she remained perfectly still, her eyes glued to the car climbing up the steep road towards the temple. As it drew closer still, she could see the driver, and all doubt left her mind.

Yukina sprang to her feet and sprinted across the temple to the front door, yanking it open and running out onto the porch. Rather than running down the steps to the garden beyond she ran to the end of the porch and leaned over the railing, watching as the car drove past her, finally coming to a halt at the end of the road. She started to smile as Kurama stepped out of his car, but her smile vanished when she saw how he looked and a sickening thought occurred to her: he was dressed in a shirt and tie like he always did when he had just come from a day at work, but his hair was suddenly cut short at the back and sides, only the front still at its original length – presumably because of the damage he had suffered from the death tree – and he was looking at Yukina in a strange way that suddenly left her thinking that he was actually there to see Botan.

He hesitated for a moment before walking over to stand beneath her, on the other side of the railing. As he looked up at her she distinctly saw something in his eyes that she had never seen before, and she was not sure how to interpret it.

"Hello Yukina," he said, nodding his head politely.

"…Your hair…!" she whispered.

He smiled, touching a hand to the back of his head.

"Yes, it would have looked rather foolish had I left it as it was," he explained.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean to…" Yukina began, silently berating herself for greeting him so stupidly. "It was just a surprise to see you… Like that."

"My mother is certainly a lot happier," Kurama replied, a smile tugging at one corner of his mouth. "She never did approve of my wearing it long."

"I think you look… Um… It looks nice."

"Thank you. I see you're adjusting to your forced new hairstyle too."

Yukina subconsciously touched a hand to one of the pins Botan had put in her hair, trying to smile through her embarrassment.

"Uh, Botan's inside," she said.

Kurama gave her a slightly odd look and so she continued.

"And Miss Rui also. Though nobody else is here. A-are the others visiting here this evening?"

"No, just me," Kurama said gently, his face changing again. "I didn't come here to see the others – I think I endured enough teasing last night from Yusuke and Kuwabara about my hair. I came here to see you Yukina. I wondered if you might like to join me for dinner this evening."

Yukina blinked and opened her mouth but words failed her.

"I know a very nice restaurant near here, the cuisine is a quite exotic, and more to demon tastes," he continued, as though sensing her desire that one of them ought to be speaking to avoid an awkward silence. "I'd like very much to take you there this evening, but unfortunately they do have a rather unusual dress code."

"A d-dress code?" Yukina echoed.

"Yes," Kurama replied, smiling warmly. "No bathrobes allowed."

Yukina gasped and clutched at the robe by her chest and knees as Kurama ran his eyes over her.

"So will you join me?" he asked as his eyes reached her face again.

"O-okay," she replied. "But I just… I have to…"

"Put on some clothes," Kurama finished for her.

She nodded mechanically and turned around, hurrying back indoors, trying to control her racing heart and keep her senses about her. Her head was flooding with delighted ideas of sharing the romantic evening she had always dreamed of with Kurama, but the thoughts drained away as quickly as they had surfaced when she entered her bedroom and her eyes landed on her wardrobe: her wardrobe that was home only to a few plain, slightly out-dated kimonos and some children's clothes. She began wringing her hands together, frowning and chewing at her lip. She needed to find something to wear, and she was going to have to face up to the contents of the wardrobe eventually. She steeled her nerves and reached a hand towards one door of the wardrobe, but before she reached the handle the door burst open and Botan leapt out at her.

"Ta-da!" she yelled, the combination of her sudden action and the volume of her voice leaving Yukina stumbling back until she fell onto her bed.

"Botan, what are… You…?"

Yukina's rebuttal faded as she realised that Botan was holding up the dress Rui had been working hard on.

"It's for you, Yukina!" Botan said. "Surprise! Do you like it? I knew you would need something elegant to wear tonight, so while you were sleeping I checked your measurements and Rui and I made this just for you!"

Yukina crawled to the end of her bed, looking first at the dress and then at Botan.

"It's beautiful Botan," she said softly. "But how did you know?"

"Oh, silly! Kurama told Hiei he intended to take you out for dinner tonight and I knew you would need something new to wear," Botan replied.

Yukina stepped off of her bed and started to move towards Botan intent on thanking her, but instead found herself yelping and leaping back onto her bed again as the other door of her wardrobe burst open and Rui appeared.

"We got you new shoes too," she said.

Botan winked at Rui appreciatively.

"You're getting very good at this espionage business, Rui," she said. "Keep up the good work, and one day you might even be as sneaky as me!"

Rui gave Botan a flat look before turning to Yukina and rolling her eyes.

"You did all this for me?" Yukina asked, crawling to the end of her bed again.

"Of course we did!" Botan replied.

"It was all Botan's idea, Yukina," Rui added.

"But why?" Yukina asked, climbing off her bed again.

"Because we're friends, silly!" Botan replied. "Now you must also take this with you."

Botan retrieved a spirit world communicator from a hidden pocket.

"And if Kurama starts getting foxy with you, you just kick him in crotch and call me, you hear?"

Yukina smiled, accepting the device from Botan.

"Thank you Botan," Yukina replied.

"It's alright, but you have to hurry to get ready now," Botan replied.

"Oh, Mister Kurama is still waiting for me!"

"…That's not why you have to hurry. I just want to see you in the dress. Make Kurama wait. Making men wait for no reason is one of the greatest joys of being a woman."

Yukina and Rui gave Botan critical looks but she appeared not to notice, and so Yukina dismissed them from her room and hurriedly put on the dress and the shoes, spending as long watching herself in the mirror afterwards as she had getting dressed. For the first time in her life, she actually thought that she looked like a woman and not a little girl: and her first date with Kurama was the absolute best time for that to have happened.

Yukina left her room, enduring Botan primping her hair and Rui cooing at her as she made her way back through the temple. As the front door came into her sight she almost as nervous as she had storming the auction in Illyria. And oddly, the situation did not seem so dissimilar: she was once more facing something unknown and frightening. In Illyria she had kept control of herself because she had known that she was fighting for something she knew was right, but this time she had no idea what she was getting herself into, only an optimistic hope that it might be the romantic evening she had always hoped for to spur her on.

As she stepped outside Yukina found Kurama waiting at the end of the porch steps, and she saw his smile grow as he saw her, his eyes briefly and subtly running over her in a way that did not make her feel self-conscious but let her know that he was admiring how she looked: it was a wonderful feeling, and it was one she was never sure she would ever get used to.

"You look lovely," he said. "I don't think we'll have any trouble getting a prime table now."

Yukina sensed that he may have been making a joke of some sort, but she was too nervous to notice, and so she simply continued to the top of the steps, taking his hand as he offered it to her, allowing him to guide her down the steps. Once she was on the garden path at his side his moved his fingers over hers until he was holding her hand that way she enjoyed so much. She looked up at him at his gesture and he smiled down at her in a way that made her blush. She lowered her head in the hope that he would not notice, and followed him to his car, where he opened the door for her. She sat into the car, smiling at him as he closed the door behind her. She looked out the window, lifting a hand to wave goodbye to Botan and Rui, but stopped short, her face twisting at what she saw.

"Are you alright?" Kurama asked as he started the engine.

"I'm sure that's not the same outfit Botan was wearing a minute ago," Yukina replied.

"Probably not," Kurama said. "Botan is… A little eccentric in that way."

Yukina smiled and when she saw Kurama smiling too she allowed herself to laugh at the thought of Botan's ever-changing outfits. The amusement was a welcome distraction, as Yukina was as apprehensive as she was delighted about the fact that she was actually going on a date with Kurama. The journey in the car was relatively short, and Kurama seemed to again understand her nervousness as he helped pass the time by making idle conversation about things they passed on the road. Their destination was a stone building with ivy growing up the wall and fairy lights adoring the windows. It looked almost magical, and the inside of the restaurant was an equally attractive sight. Yukina found herself looking about at her surroundings so much that she became reliant on Kurama leading her by the hand through the tables to a set of glass doors that led out onto a balcony, lit by hanging lanterns. They sat down at a table for two overlooking a garden and Yukina entrusted Kurama to order for her as she was not really sure what most of the items on the menu were.

"This is surely better than the campfire meals we survived on during our last mission," Kurama said as they were served their first course.

"Is it always like that on a mission?" Yukina asked.

"Pretty much," Kurama replied. "Hiei usually sleeps through the worst of it, and I balance my time between finding food and playing referee to Yusuke and Kuwabara."

Yukina smiled.

"You haven't eaten much, don't you like your order?" Kurama asked her.

She looked down at her plate, feeling a little guilty then. The truth was, she was so nervous she had lost her appetite – something that had repeatedly happened to her when she had been pretending to be Hiei and found herself in life or death situations and surrounded by Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara at their most candid.

"Do you want this?" Kurama asked, pointing at a crusty bread roll on her side plate.

"Oh, no, if you want it, please take it," she replied.

Kurama nodded, picking up the roll. He gripped it a little too firmly for comfort before hurling it out over the balcony. Yukina gasped, turning her head and leaning towards the railings as she heard the roll thump into something that grunted on the impact.

"We're flattered," Kurama said, his voice suddenly louder. "But we really don't require a chaperone, Hiei."

"Hn, that's debatable."

Yukina gasped as Hiei leapt up onto the railings at their side, a slight pink mark on one side of his face where the roll had presumably hit him. Once her initial shock had passed, she realised that he must have been following her on her date with Kurama, and anger overtook concern. She opened her mouth to berate her brother for his behaviour, but she stopped short as something hit the table at her side, causing all the crockery and cutlery to bounce.

"Hiei, how could you?"

"Botan?" Kurama muttered, eying over the moustached waiter with a flowing blue ponytail standing by their table.

"You should be ashamed of yourself!" Botan continued. "If you can't even trust your best friend and your own sister, you have some serious issues!"

Hiei muttered a derogatory comment about Botan's outfit and her hobby of sneaking about in disguises, but she either did not hear him or chose to ignore him.

"Hiei, I appreciate that you care about my safety, but I don't need you to watch over me every minute of every day," Yukina said.

Hiei gave her a blank look before baring his teeth in a mildly threatening gesture at Kurama. He then turned and leapt down to the garden path.

"There we are!" Botan said to Yukina and Kurama. "Please, continue!"

Yukina and Kurama glared back at her, but she seemed unable to understand their ire.

"You have to leave too, idiot!" Hiei shouted up at her.

Botan began admonishing him for miscalling her, climbing over the railing and down a drainpipe awkwardly as Hiei argued back. By the time Botan had joined Hiei, the two had dissolved into criticising each other without listening to each other. They continued for some time before both stopping at exactly the same moment, pausing long enough to give each other strange looks before leaping at each other and engaging in a kiss that bordered on animalistic in its intensity. Yukina's jaw dropped, and she was glad when Kurama took her hand and began quietly guiding her away from the table.

He led her back through the restaurant and out of the front door, continuing until he had reached the other side of his car.

"That was weird," Yukina said as they stopped.

"I'll say," Kurama replied with a smile.

Yukina looked back at the building they had left, smiling at the thought that Kurama had thought to take her there. When she looked up at Kurama again she saw something different in his eyes and she instinctively took a step closer to him. He put his hands on her shoulders, but she could not help but notice the way he pressed the heels of his hands into her as though keeping her at arm's length.

"Let's take this slowly," he said. "I don't want to rush you into anything."

"I'd like that, Mister Kurama," she replied.

"And I think you can stop calling my Mister Kurama now," Kurama added.

"Okay," she said. "Kurama."

Yukina smiled and he slid his hands up to her face, gently tilting her head back and leaning over her to kiss her. It was nothing like the kiss they had shared in the cave in spirit world: it was simple, warm and sweet and everything she had always hoped for.

"I love you," he whispered as they pulled back from each other.

"I love you too," she replied, before sinking into his embrace.

 **The End**

At last.


End file.
